War
by MystravenPsYcHo
Summary: "It hurts to grow. That's why people never change, they are afraid of the pain, but not changing hurts more, it not only hurts you, but it hurts those around you, so those that do change, are the bravest, and most selfless of us all." First fanfic, please don't hurt me! I do not own TF2 or any of it's characters, that's Valve. Rated T for violence, slight gore and character death.
1. The Beginning

Okay, so time for ANGST! And BROMANCE! I guess I should start at the beginning. P.S. My little brother is helping me out with this, so I can't take full credit for anything. Whether that's good or bad, eh, we'll see! This story is based on the TF2 universe. We're gonna try and focus on psychological problems and such, but that's not to say there won't be mindless fluff and humor later on ;). So, let's have fun with this! By the way, I do not own TF2 or any of its characters, those are owned by Valve, and this is a non-profit fanfiction made for entertainment purposes only.

War

Chapter one

(1962)

The Frenchman felt out of place amongst the American crowd. Boston was crowded, cold, and dirty. Three of the things he hated the most. The people were rude, and loud. He ran his hand through his golden brown hair, a nervous tic. As if his day couldn't get any worse, he felt a small hand tug on his pant leg.

"Mistah?" a young boy with tears in his eyes squeaked in a Boston accent, "Have you seen mah ma or brudders?"

The boy was no older than 3 and he felt a bit of pity for him, "Non, I have not."

The boy looked at his shoes and started to cry.

"Ugh," he caved, "I vill 'elp you find your family."

The young boy brightened up and started talking a mile a minute, "Mah Ma is a really pretty lady with brown hair and is wearing a pretty dress, and my six brudders are with her, we all kinda look tha same, but Tommy has glasses, the oldest is…"

After what felt like a month, he finally found the boy's family, which was looking for him near a store. The mother thanked him graciously and demanded he come home with her for dinner. He agreed, mostly because he couldn't stand being amongst the crowd any longer.

"My name's Marie, and this is Danny, Freddie, Max, Johnny, Timmy, Tommy, and Marty. And you are?" she chirped when they arrived at her house.

The man hesitated, "Martin." He glanced around the house, it was _quaint, _it was small, but surprisingly clean, "So are zey all yours?"

"Yep, I even have the stretch mahks to prove it!" the duo had migrated to the kitchen, and she was busy preparing a soup of sorts.

"And ze father…"

"No longer a paht of this household." She muttered something that sounded an awful lot like Sleazy Two-timer.

"I zee…"

"Yer accent ain't from 'round here. You from France er somethin'?"

"Yes, I came here on business." The smell of the soup began to waft around the room, it was heavenly.

"How long ya gonna be here?"

"I am not sure." He sighed.

"Well, while yer here, yer welcome to stay in mah home." Her brown eyes glistened slightly. Something stirred in Martin's stomach.

Two years later

Marie had been having several stomach aches for the past month or so of her pregnancy. Martin was beside himself with worry, what if something went wrong? His dreams where realized when on the first day of the 7th month Marie started to go into labor. He wasn't sure what happened, but somehow he got her to the hospital.

He paced back and forth in the hallway. He nearly had a heart attack when a doctor walked out.

"The baby was born prematurely," the doctor was looking over his clipboard, "He's in the I.C.U. now, but it seems his heart is underdeveloped, we have a donor, however."

"Will he survive?" he managed to choke out.

"We will do our best." The doctor smiled slightly and patted his back.

Martin rushed into Marie's room as soon as he was able. He squeezed her hand and whispered something in French. Marie looked over to him.

"Don't worry, sugah. It'll be alright." She smiled weakly.

Martin prayed that she was right.

After two or so hours a smiling nurse walked in.

"We were able to save him!" she chirped cheerfully.

Martin and Marie sighed with relief. It felt like a million pounds had been lifted off their shoulders.

"He's in the incubator, and he will be able to go home with you in a month or so." And the weight was back.

The month that passed was the slowest ever. Each day creeped by, tormenting Martin constantly. When the day finally came, he felt like jumping for joy. When he was finally able to hold his son, his heart skipped a beat. The baby may have been weak and frail, but he could sense that he was fighting, and he sensed the strength in him. He was the proudest man in the world.

He leaned onto Marie who was now holding him.

"What do we name 'im?" she smiled sweetly, "You should do it, I've already named seven kids."

He paused for a second, "Nathan."


	2. Nathan

Note: The first few chapters are back-stories. If you don't want to sit through them, just skip ahead, but some of the details might get confusing. These chapters are mostly on how they got into the whole war thing, and I won't be doing every single character, just the characters that the story focuses on. Those characters are: Red Spy, Red Sniper, and Blu Scout.

Chapter 2:

Five years later

The eight boys ran amok in the small house. Marie worked hard to keep lamps and side tables from knocking over. Eventually she told them to go outside, and soon after Martin came home.

After he got settled down, a loud crash was heard. Mikey ran in screaming: "H-he fell off the c-crates, and th-then the c-crates, and…"

"Slow down, what happened?" Martin said, trying to calm him down.

Then Johnny ran in, "Nathan fell off the crates outside! Then the crates fell on him!" Martin flew out the door, and rounded the corner of the house. He nearly fainted when he saw the blood underneath a large wooden crate. He five remaining boys were trying to heave it off of him, but it was too heavy. The crates were filled with cement that would be used to pave the driveway.

It took everyone to heave the crate off Nathan, but what they found nobody wanted to see. Nathan was covered in blood, and his limbs were bent at strange angles. He was barely breathing, and his chest had caved in, exposing everyone to his internal organs, which were crushed as well.

"Marie! Call an ambulance!" he bellowed as he started to set Nathan's bones.

The wait at the hospital was terrifying. Several doctors had stopped and told him that it would be okay, or that they'd performed several operations like this, but nothing calmed him. Marie had stayed home with the other boys, but Martin wished she was there.

A doctor finally came out about two hours later; following him was an older woman in a purple dress, with a streak of white running through her dark-black hair. The doctor explained how the woman had graciously donated the technology used to revive Nathan. What they did; was basically build an exoskeleton of sorts, that was attached to his shattered bones, keeping them together, replace most of his organs with artificial ones, and insert this box into his chest (hooked up to his brain via wires), that would control the organs since his brain stem and spinal cord had been crushed.

After the woman dismissed the doctor, her demeanor seemed to change, she seemed harsher. "Now to discuss payment," she began with a smirk, "as you know this won't be cheap…"

"How much?"

"Much more than you can afford, but I can give you a job that will pay for it, and won't be out of your comfort-zone." A smile formed, "I do believe you've had previous experience with spying, haven't you?"


	3. The Boy Ain't Right

Note: Okay, so we're switching over to how Red Sniper got involved in this stuff. By the way, this is a universe alternate to ours, so the technology in the 60's and 70's here is equal to the technology we have today, and in our future, you know, assuming we can build teleporters and plasma-canons, also my apologies to any Australians, I know this isn't really how you are, but Valve has declared it, so I have to use it. By the way, my headcanon might not be equal to game canon, this is done on purpose. So please, not angry mobs outside my house, I already have to deal with those enough as it is!

Chapter 3:

(Australia, 1964)

Adam and his wife Lizzie sit in their living room reading books. Adam is the typical Australian male, average height, broad shoulders, muscular, and sporting a moustache. Lizzie is the typical Australian female, sort of short, a stronger build, but curvy and elegant. Adam glanced over to the back door and saw his son's backpack full of assorted knives, slingshots, and other various weapons.

"Lizzie," Adam called to his wife, "somethin's been buggin' me for a while."

"What is it, dear?" Lizzie answered, looking up from the book she was reading in the living room.

"It's the boy."

"Not this again…"

"I'm serious! He has no friends, spends all his time in the billabong with those stupid toys, and is failin' all his classes in school!" Adam was pacing now, "I mean, who fails P.E.?"

"Honey…" Lizzie sighed.

"Mum! Dad! I'm back!" Jackson shouted as he closed the front door behind him. Lizzie ran over to hug him, and immediately ask about his day, "Um, well, Thomas and his gang tried to beat me up and…"

"What did you do?" Adam perked up.

Jackson cringed for a moment and muttered: "I used my slingshot…"

"What!?" Adam stormed over.

Lizzie walked out of the room, this argument had happened before many times, and she couldn't do anything about it. In fact, she didn't have a say in any of the arguments that the frequently had. Jackson had always been on the smaller side, and was frequently tormented by the other boys, especially now at age 13, since all the other kids were starting to get bigger, and more muscular, and almost always tried to pick fights with Jackson. The major problem however was Jackson and Adam's different outlooks on fighting. Adam believed that Jackson had to learn to face fights head on, with fists, and Jackson believed that it's better to attack from a distance, with a weapon of sorts.

After their daily argument Adam locked himself in his office, and Jackson grabbed his bag-o-weapons and disappeared into the swampy forests behind their house.

When Jackson came back Adam hadn't cooled off yet, and continued to yell at him. This argument lasted an hour and ended when Adam lost any piece of a temper he had left, and punched him right in the eye. This resulted in Jackson locking himself in his room, and not speaking to anyone for the rest of the evening.

The next morning when Lizzie finally got his door open, Jackson wasn't there. Neither was his bag. All that was left was an open window.

The investigation lasted for several months, but there was absolutely no trace of him, no footprints, no trampled grass, and no fingerprints. The only thing even close to a clue was a small hoard of various carvings, placed carefully in a hollow tree near a stream. Some of the carvings were of crocodiles, koalas, birds, and other animals, but the one that stood out was a carving of a family, with the father's face stabbed several times with a knife, mangled beyond recognition.


	4. POV

I know what you're thinking, either 'Well, that escalated quickly' or 'This story is lame'

1 I know

2 Sorry, but I'm new to this. Hopefully it'll get better as it goes. I'm mostly experimenting with how I should write it, and I'm open to suggestions. Just no harsh comments. Thanks!

Chapter 4

Jackson ran into his room and slammed the door behind him. The pain in his right eye was burning, but not as much as the feeling in his stomach. He paced for a moment, grabbed his bag, and hopped out of the window. He stealthily made his way into the forest, deftly maneuvering through the brush, until he got to a small hollow tree by a stream. He reached into the tree and pulled out a carving, it was one he made of him and his family. He reached for a knife and began stabbing his father's wooden counterpart ruthlessly.

When it was good and ruined, he placed it back in the tree, and sat on a large rock nearby. He sat there for a good hour, staring into the stream, until he was interrupted by a rustling in the brush. He scrambled for his bag as the source of the noise made its way closer to him.

"'Ello!?" he called out.

"Hello!" a friendly voice called back. The owner of this voice peaked out from the brush. It was a boy about his age, with darker skin, and wielding a spear. "What are you doing out here this late?" the boy laughed.

"What are _you_ doin'?" Jackson retorted as he lowered his defenses slightly.

"Hey, I asked first!" the boy chuckled, "Either way, I was just on my way home. Now you answer."

"Oi'm runnin' away." Jackson sighed as he sat back down on the rock.

"Why?"

Jackson simply pointed to the black eye forming on his face.

"Ah," the boy sighed, "What happened?"

"My dad thinks Oi'm weak."

"So he _hit _you?"

"Basically…"

The boy thought for a moment, "How about you come with me to my village?"

"Wha?"

"Well you're running away anyway."

"I guess it's better than stayin' in this bloody swamp all noight long…" Jackson smiled slightly, "My name's Jackson."

"Adoni." They grinned as the shook hands. Adoni then led him through the brush, Jackson grinned wildly, soon he'd be free of the ridicule of everyone, his kinsmen, classmates, _family_.


	5. The Village

Me: Hey audience! You know Saxton Hale?

Audience: Yes he is the awesome guy, who's like Chuck Norris!

Me: Well I'm going to turn him into a recurring villain, and you cannot stop me!

Audience: Wait, what?

Me: It'll make sense. You know, probably.

Chapter 5

(Aboriginal Village, 1965)

Jackson had merged into the village life perfectly. The only thing that set him apart from the others was his skin color, but nobody acknowledged that. Adoni's father had taken him in, and several of the men trained him in fighting, survival skills, and Aboriginal culture, philosophy and language. Adoni's father had also taught him something he had learned from a village elder who had died just before he arrived: be efficient, be polite, and to have a plan to kill everyone you meet. It was almost an entire year before he saw another 'civilized' human.

Adoni rushed in to the hut Jackson was relaxing in, "J-jack! These men are, t-they're attacking, w-we need your help!"

The two rushed out wielding a spear and a knife each, and sporting sloppily applied war paint. The attackers were a group of large men in police uniforms, their leader being a significantly larger man with no shirt. His voice boomed: "We are here to relieve you savages of this land; if you surrender peacefully we'll kill you quickly."

Jackson wasn't sure how the fight started, but he eventually found Adoni and himself in a hut, prepared to defend a group of young children. A burning feeling began to well up in his stomach as the door was beaten down. It was the leader. Behind him he could make out a pile of corpses of the tribe.

"Hey! Scott!" the leader motioned for a man to come over, "Does this kid look familiar to you?"

The man ran over and gasped slightly, "Holy cow! That's the Mundy kid! He's been missing for almost a year!"

Jackson pointed the spear at them and got into an attack stance.

The leader studied the boy for a moment and snapped his fingers; "Now I remember, the first two months there was that huge media dealie!" he laughed and turned his attention to Jackson, "I constantly saw yer face all over the news!" then he noticed the small group of children behind him and the war paint, "What happened?

Jackson didn't reply, but motioned for the kids to stay back. He and Adoni were prepared to attack.

The men laughed. After they saw that the two were serious, the leader's expression changed. "Look, obviously these savages messed yer mind up. We're just going to help."

"I don't need yer help!" Jackson barked as he thrusted the spear at the leader, "Leave!"

The leader was startled by this and ordered his men to attack. Jackson was quickly knocked out, and when he woke up he was being carried out of the hut, he saw a body shoved to the side, the head was bent at a strange angle. It was Adoni. After seeing this, Jackson began to flail his arms and legs, hopelessly trying to escape. The leader noticed this and ordered his men to stop for a moment.

"Listen kid, we did you a favor," he held Jackson's head up so he was looking him directly in the eye, "Look at you! You're covered in paint with hardly any clothes on! It's a good thing you're going back to your parents."

At this Jackson struggled even more. "What if I was happy here? Huh!?" anger was welling up inside of him.

"You'll thank us later." The leader walked to a car nearby, "Now I'm gonna take you home."

Jackson barked something in a language no one could understand, but everyone knew it was an insult. He managed to get away from the men for a moment, and ran into the village, desperately trying to find someone who was still breathing. When he couldn't he collapsed near a well, the only place that had ever accepted him had been singlehandedly been destroyed.

He heard a bellow and the men caught up to him. They tied him up and loaded him into the car like a prisoner. Jackson turned to look at the village one last time; he started screaming in the foreign tongue again when the men began to light it on fire. Tears rolled down his cheeks as it was swallowed by flames.

"Eh," the leader who was driving started, "It's a good thing they're gone, the world doesn't need any more uncivilized trash."

Jackson looked up with a rage that's intensity matched the flames behind them, "You just destroyed a whole village just for a small piece of land, and you call _them _uncivilized?!" Jackson spat, "Who do you think you are?!'

The car screeched to a halt, "I'm Saxton Hale, dingbat! And you'd better learn some respect!" Jackson flinched as Saxton's hand flew through the air, soon he was unconscious.


	6. The Return and Departure

Me: Make sense?

Audience: Nope.

Me: Ugh.

Audience: You're terrible. You know that, right?

Me: Don't rub it in.

Chapter 6

When Jackson regained consciousness, he was still in the car being driven down the road to his house. Saxton was humming to some music on the radio. Jackson tried to say something but he was gagged, so all that came out was: "Mmmph, mppfrr!"

When they finally arrived, the whole neighborhood had gathered in the driveway, not to mention a gaggle of news crews and journalists. His mother and father we're amongst the swarm, his mother had a look of fear and hope on her face, his father just looked irritated. Jackson's stomach began to do flips as the car pulled into the driveway.

Saxton pulled the gag off as he opened the door. He led him through the crowd towards his mother. The flashes of the cameras blinded him, and he couldn't hear over the obsessive questioning. About halfway his mother ran over to him and started blubbering and hugging him.

Everyone expected a heartfelt reunion between the boy who had disappeared of the face of the Earth for a year and his loving parents, but Jackson just stood still, looking straight down. Everyone then suddenly seemed to notice the ropes binding his arms, and turned their questions to Saxton.

His story was probably the biggest lie Jackson ever heard: "My men and I had gone to reclaim some land that I owned, seeing as some Aboriginal freaks had decided to take up residence there. They fought back before we could explain our situation to them, and we had to fight them. We had defeated them all and started to look through the huts, as per standard protocol, and we found the boy. Poor thing obviously kidnapped and brainwashed! He somehow got it in his mind that _we _were the bad guys, and tried to fight us. After we tried to get him to come home, he started yelling in some sort of foreign language and we had to chase him through the whole darned village! We had to tie him up because he started flailing every time we tried to help."

Nobody notice Jackson free himself from the ropes and run towards Saxton with a knife in his hand. He began yelling: "You're a lying brute! You killed them all!" The media went nuts when they saw this. The paint still on Jackson didn't help. To everyone this just confirmed what Saxton told them. Jackson lunged at him, but Saxton just brushed off his attack and said: "Sad isn't it? They found someone weaker than us and messed his mind up. Classic case; they kidnap 'em then mess 'em up then turn 'em into savages."

"You're the savage!" Jackson barked as he futilely tried to attack him, tears were streaming down his face leaving streaks in the paint. The press was having a field day.

Jackson's mom eventually calmed him down and stopped him from attacking, but couldn't stop the rage welling up inside him. Everything had gone to black as he cried into his mother's arms, in between sobs he could hear the crowd praising the 'hero' and pitying the 'poor, confused victim'.

Jackson wasn't sure how he ended up in his living room, but when he regained his senses; his mother was washing the paint off of him with a rag, and tending to some mysterious wounds on his back. His father was nowhere to be seen, but was probably outside answering the questions of the press who were as happy as a kindergartner who found some money outside a candy-store.

His mother's voice soothingly asked him: "How did you get these cuts?"

"How do you think?" Jackson replied coldly.

"I wouldn't ask if I knew." she replied patiently.

"It was _him_." He sneered, "He burned down the whole place and killed everyone! Then he calls 'em savage!"

Lizzie desperately thought of something to say, "At least they didn't kill you."

Jackson was silent for a moment, "I wish they did…"

"Now don't you say that!" Lizzie scolded him, "How did you end up there anyway?"

Jackson explained the whole thing as Lizzie tended to his wounds, when he finally finished he added: "all my life you and dad told me to make friends and find a place in life, when I finally do it's burned."

Lizzie sighed; she wasn't sure who to believe. Saxton Hale was considered perfect by most of the country, but her son suddenly described him as the opposite of what she'd been told.

She was shaken out of thought when Adam slammed the door. "D*** press, can't figure out when someone wants 'em to leave." He noticed Jackson and averted his eyes. He wasn't sure how to feel, he was enraged that his son had run away because of him, but also saddened by it, he also was extremely happy that his son came back, but Jackson obviously didn't want to come back. There was also a bit of pride formed when his son, the scrawny reject, had had the guts enough to attack the most powerful man in the country. Instead of talking to Jackson, he opted instead to lock himself in his office.

Lizzie noticed Jackson shift uncomfortably, "We're glad you're back, and even though it doesn't look like it, your father had gone nuts trying to find you."

Jackson didn't respond something was stirring in the back of his mind: _People will only betray you or die. There's no point in trying,_

"You know, it's kinda funny you ended up where you did." Lizzie sighed, "My father was from the exact same tribe. You get most of your looks and attitude from him."

Jackson perked up slightly; maybe that's why everyone accepted him so quickly. "Why haven't you ever said anything about this before?"

"There's a lot of prejudice against Aboriginals right now, we had hoped to keep you out of it for as long as possible."

"Why?"

This simple question was one she'd hoped to avoid for as long as possible, "Well, you see, it's um…" she stammered trying to find the right words, "You've always been, um, different from the other boys, um, and if it got out, you would have to deal with, um…" Even though she didn't actually finish, the point was made.

The next week was horrible; somehow a new station got a hold of Jackson's birth record, and announced to the world his heritage. Not to mention he was followed around constantly by bullies and the press. He'd eventually given up on any attempt to go into public, and spent most of his time indoors or in the woods.

He kept this habit for two years, and was kicked out of school due to the violent nature he had acquired, and his heritage. Somewhere along the way, he'd gotten his hands on a rifle, and earned money hunting game. One day while he was in the woods stalking a particularly large crocodile, he noticed a man in an orange jumpsuit running at full speed through the woods, followed by a group of men with dogs.

He glued the pieces together pretty quickly, and tracked the convict through the woods, even after the police gave up. He found the convict hiding in a small cave, he was about 6ft tall, was bald, and had a tattoo of a snake on his left arm and neck. The man didn't notice Jackson as he snuck up to him, and knocked him out with a large tree branch.

The man woke up in a police station, his arms tied together, being handed over into police custody. Jackson grinned as he was given the bounty. $20,000, way more than anything he'd ever made.

Eventually he started bounty hunting, which caught the attention of some people, who hired him as an assassin. He eventually learned how to cover his tracks, and avoid the press and police. Along the way he acquired a van and drivers license, and moved out of his parent's house. One day (Roughly 2 years later), after successfully completing a job, a woman in a purple dress, with a white streak running through her pitch-black hair approached him.

"I hear you're good at what you do…" her voice was like that of a snake's, "If the rumors are true, I have an offer for you."

"Depends on how much." Jackson replied bluntly, he had been through these kinds of conversations before.

"Much more than you make, I'm sure." She smiled as Jackson perked up slightly, "But it's a more, _permanent_, job."


	7. Pick Up

Hi audience! If you've lasted this long, I'm preparing a bromance! Also angst, but mostly bromance. By the way, there's only going to be a couple of actual romantic romances, but that's only because I can't physically write a good love story without being reduced to a pile of feels and giggles, which is why I'm focusing on other things for the moment. Don't worry though; I'm preparing a really good love story which will be revealed later on. If you can guess which pairing I use, you get 100 imaginary cookies. Hint: they both start with S.

Chapter 7

Jackson drove his van through the crowded masses of Boston, he had accepted the job, and his first assignment was to pick up a 'colleague' and drive him to New Mexico. Jackson didn't like the idea of anyone in his van, but money talks.

He had finally arrived at the location; it was a small house in an older part of town. The yard was infested with young boys screaming at each other. A man was sitting on the porch, a suitcase in one hand. Jackson assumed this was who he was to pick up.

The gaggle of boys froze as Jackson walked up to the porch, they didn't seem scared, but curious. Jackson walked up the steps and turned to the man, "Um, I'm here to pick up Martin."

"That would be me." The man had a French accent, which Jackson found strange seeing as they were in New England, "You must be Jackson?"

"Yep." Jackson shifted uncomfortably, "Uh, I'll let you say goodbye, um, I'll be in the van." Jackson scurried to the van, averting his gaze from the horde of boys.

Suddenly one of the younger ones ran up to him, "Why are you so tall? I've never seen anyone as tall as you!"

Jackson wasn't sure what to say, "Um, genes?"

"Where are you going?" another one with glasses ran over, "And what kind of business? Martin said it was a business trip."

"Uh, New Mexico, and…" he was cut off by a sound coming from the van. The remaining boys had successfully climbed in and started to go through a fridge. He nearly panicked when he heard: "Hey! Look at this cool gun I found!"

After about five minutes of trying to shoo the horde away, he noticed Martin leaning against the van comforting the youngest boy, who appeared to have trouble walking.

"But when will you be back?" the boy whined.

"I'll be back before you know it, _petite_." He kneeled down so he could look him straight in the eye, "While I'm gone you'll protect your mother and brothers, _non_?"

"O-okay."

"Here," he dug in his pocket and pulled out some dog-tags, "These belonged to my dad, now they belong to you."

After all goodbyes were said, Martin noticed Jackson staring, "We can go now."


	8. Roadtrip

To the bromobile! Time for a chapter that I don't think will contribute much to the story, but I'm not about to pass up a chance at a bro road trip! Or dare I say bro'd-trip. The whole purpose of this chapter is fun. Guess which pairing I'm going to use for the love story yet? I'm certain it's obvious! *Evil Laugh*

Chapter 8

About an hour into the trip, Jackson noticed Martin staring at him oddly, "What's yer problem?"

"'ow old are you exactly?"

"Eighteen. Why?"

"Aren't you a little _young _to be accepting this kind of job?"

"I've been in this line o' business for the past two years."

There was a pause, "If I may be so bold, how exactly did you end up in _this _line of work?"

Jackson adjusted his hat, "I was sort of forced into it."

"So was I." Martin sighed.

It was a while before the awkward silence died. "So were all those kids yours, or…" Jackson began.

"Only the youngest." Martin smiled with a longing forming in his eyes.

"I noticed 'im limping, is he okay?" Jackson asked awkwardly.

"Yes, he was in an accident a week ago." Martin answered uncomfortably, "I actually took this job to pay for his hospital bills."

Jackson shifted awkwardly, "It's almost dinnertime, wanna stop somewhere?"

"Fine," Martin's stomach growled, "whatever you want to do."

As soon as they reached Buffalo, Jackson began his search for a suitable restaurant. Eventually he pulled into a bar-and-grill, much to the horror of Martin. "Do we really have to eat _here_?"

"We could always go across the street to McDonalds." Jackson grinned, he knew he had won.

The scene inside was terrible, it was loud, at least half the people inside were drunk, and the only seats open were at the bar. Once they got seated, an aging waitress with a harsh voice walked over. "What'll it be, boys?" After ordering, it took about 20 minutes until their food arrived.

About halfway through their meal, the restaurant fell silent as the news flickered on a tv crudely hung in the corner. "And now, we go to Nora Jones who's in Australia right now at a press conference for Mann Co." it flickered over to a blonde news reporter standing amongst a crowd, "Hi, I'm here at Mann Co. for an important announcement regarding the current 'native problem' as they've put it."

The camera focused on a burly man standing at a pedestal high above the crowd. He raised his hand and the crowd silenced. Martin heard a slight gasp from Jackson, and looked over to see his knuckles turn white as they grasped a glass and his ears turning a lovely shade of red. Jackson's eyes burned as the man on the tv spoke. "As you all remember, four years ago it was brought to Mann Co.'s attention that not all is well in our country. Plaguing our humble nation are savages, known to us as Aboriginals. We have tried to make peace with these people, but they refuse. I was brought into the matter personally four years ago, when I was attempting to do business with a local tribe, and I discovered _him_. As you all remember a 13 year old boy disappeared from a small town near that exact tribe. For one whole year investigators were stumped, there were no leads." The man paused for a moment, Martin noticed Jackson looked as if he were about to explode, "However, when we came to the village, we were shocked to see that this exact boy was living amongst these people. It was obvious that he had been kidnapped and developed Stockholm syndrome. Obviously we returned him to his family, but," a screen dropped behind him and the lights dimmed, "these videos were taken by a local news station who 'kindly agreed' to let us use them. Now before I show you this footage, I warn you, what you are about to witness may disturb you."

The screen began to role the video, a boy of about 14, covered in paint and dirt appeared, but before anyone in the restaurant could see any more, a glass flew across the room, hitting the tv square in the screen, ruining it. Everyone's gaze fell to a man standing at the bar. Sweat was dripping down his nose, and he was muttering something under his breath. Everyone watched in horror as he stormed out.

Martin was about to follow him out, but the waitress stopped him, "You know you'll have to pay for your friend."

When Martin finally left, Jackson was pacing outside the van whispering obscenities. When he noticed his companion approaching him, he silently got into the van and started it up.

"You know I had to pay for that little display of yours," Martin calmly said as he got in, "You owe me $260."

Jackson just reached into the glove compartment and handed him a wad of 50 dollar bills like it was nothing.

After staring at the cash for a moment, he turned his attention to Jackson who was desperately trying to get his breath under control. "What was that about, anyway?"

"None of yer bloody business." Jackson grunted.

"It was my business after you made me pay for the tv."

"Geez, I paid you back."

"That's another thing, who keeps this kind of money in a glove compartment?"

Jackson just grunted and began to drive down the road, avoiding the older man's gaze.

After they almost got into 3 wrecks, Martin took over driving. Jackson had fallen asleep on the fold-out bed in the back of the van, and disappeared under the covers. It was completely silent until they got to Cleveland. The sun was rising over the skyline, and a mist formed, reflecting the various shades of red and orange.

Jackson dragged himself to the passenger seat, "Look, I'm sorry about earlier." He muttered sleepily, much to Martin's surprise.

"Why did you react like that anyway?"

"One guess." Jackson cracked a smile, "If you can't figure it out, you are the worst spy in existence."

"Ah, I see." Martin glanced over at Jackson, who was fighting off sleep, "So was the man telling the truth?"

"Huh?"

"Was the man on the television telling the truth? You know, the part about kidnapping and Stockholm syndrome."

Jackson laughed a little, "What do you think?"

"I want to hear it from you." Martin looked him in the eye.

"Not one bit of what he said was true."

"Then you weren't there?"

"No, what I mean is he twisted the story so he'd look good."

"What really happened?"

"Ugh, you're not going to let me not answer that are you?"

"You catch on fast, monsieur."

"Fine," Jackson sighed, "About five years ago-

When Jackson finished his story, they had arrived in Columbus.

"So why did ze man tell it completely different?"

"To make himself look better." Jackson explained as he picked at his fingernails, "Mind if I ask you a question?"

"Depends on said question."

"You said your son was in an accident…"

"Correct."

"What was the accident?"

"He was crushed by a crate of cement. It was a miracle he survived, and I'm thankful, but something is bothering me."

"What?"

"Do you know a five year old, who can survive being hit by 400 lbs right after falling 10 feet?"

"What do you mean?"

"You see, when we lifted the crate off him, his chest had been completely ripped open, and I noticed something _different_."

"Different how?"

"It was his heart, there was something _metal _attached to it." Martin pause for a minute, "He was born early, and he had to stay at the hospital for a month. Which was okay, but we were not told that they changed, or rather _added_, anything."

"So you think someone messed with yer kid without telling you?"

"Precisely. Then at the hospital, the woman who recruited me had said that she provided the technology that saved him, she also somehow knew about my previous _experiences_."

"Experiences?"

"Let's just say that I'm not new to our line of business."

Jackson looked out the window; he didn't know what to say.

"I'm not sure whether I'm overanalyzing or not." Martin sighed.

"Look, I haven't had any experience with kids, but I know that you can never be too careful in that kind of situation." Jackson placed a hand on Martin's shoulder, "And if you need any help, I'm there."

Martin cracked a smile, "It appears we are almost to Indianapolis."


	9. Doktor's Log

Hey guys! I said it before, but I'm experimenting with several different kinds of writing, and such. Long story short, I was thinking about how to make the Red Medic more interesting, and I got this idea from a dream I had.

By the way, I will be doing these logs a bit, so I'm going to get this out of the way right now. The reason that there is no accent or German words is it's translated from German to English in my magic world of headcanons. Enjoy!

Day 1

'I have started this log to document my progress with my newest experiment. I have been recruited by Mann Co. to develop a sort-of human weapon. I haven't asked what this experiment will be used for, and I don't plan on asking at all. My boss is, rash, to say the least, and I wouldn't want to get on her bad side.

She didn't tell me what she wanted exactly, all she told me was to make the perfect soldier. It took a while, but then it struck me when I was feeding my doves. What if a human possessed the abilities of different species? spped of a cheetah, strength (relative to body size) of an ant, and so forth.

I'm not sure how I will pull it off, but I'm beginning to get a faint idea. I start tomorrow.'

Day 5

'So far everything has gone smoothly. The technology here is unbelievable. I'm going to have to start with the basics however. The basics, unfortunately, require genetic material that none of my colleagues seem to want to share. It appears as though I'll have to use my own.'

Day 20

'I have been able to keep the experiment alive for almost 15 days. It is developing quite nicely, and I will be able to move it out of the petri dish into the artificial womb soon.'

Day 36

'The transition was hard, but I was successfully able to transfer it. I also thought I saw a hand developing. In a strange way, it is sort of cute.'

Day 67

'It is developing nicely. I am beginning the genetic alterations and, so far, there are no adverse side-effects. I also ran a test, and it appears as if it's a girl. I am not sure however."

Day 100

'Today marks the 100th day since I began this experiment. Everything is working almost perfectly, and I have been met with absolutely no resistance. Also, it's officially been proven that it's a girl. Her fingerprints are already developing, and she weighs almost one ounce.'

Day 140

'Development is still going perfectly. It's strange actually. I guess I shouldn't complain; I'm actually glad that I haven't had to restart. Something else has been bothering me; I'm not exactly sure what it is though. I've been getting this weird feeling in my stomach, mostly when my boss visits. I think it's just that I've been locked up in here so long, I'll try to go outside more often.'

Day 167

'Everything is still running smoothly. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother recording everything. On another note, I've still been getting that feeling in my stomach, even though I've allowed myself some time outside. I've learned to ignore it, however, and will continue to record everything, mostly due to the fact I'm afraid that if this experiment does fail, I won't be able to remember what happened so I will be able to adjust.'

Day 182

'I had a bit of a scare today. She almost died when the power went off during a storm. Fortunately I was able to hook up an emergency generator just in time. I'm going to leave the generator hooked up, just in case something happens again. Also, if all goes according to plan, her development will be complete in 3 months, and will be able to live outside of the artificial womb. I'm not sure why, but I feel excited, in a way.'

Day 212

'I almost had a heart attack today. Not because something bad happened, but quite the opposite. Her eyes opened, and actually looked around the lab. It was almost surreal when we made eye contact. I've also been thinking, it'll be harder to record the experiment and such if I keep referring to her as just "experiment" or "her" so I've been thinking of names, but I haven't decided on one.'

Day 213

'I've decided on a name. It's actually a funny story, I was going through a list of possible names, and when I said the name Abigail, I noticed that she looked up at me. I guess it's decided, even though I was hoping for a more poetic name.'

Day 244

'I am ashamed of myself. Today a younger scientist from the weapons department visited and nearly crashed into Abigail. Luckily I stopped him in time, but for some reason I lost my temper and I ended up knocking him unconscious. On a lighter note however, there is only one month until Abigail will be "born" so-to-speak.'

Day 262

'Only one week left. I'm not sure why I am so excited, I've never felt this way about anything else.'

Day 263

'It's hard to keep my patience. Never has six days seemed so long."

Day 267

'I looked over my previous entries and it has only now dawned on me. I actually can't believe that I haven't realized it sooner. I am this child's father. I am certain that I am the most stupid man in the world right now. Also, only two days left. It seems that the closer it gets, the longer the wait gets.'

Day 269

'Today is the day, in exactly 6 hours Abigail will take her first breath. I've spent all day making sure everything is perfect. The temperature, humidity, lighting, etc. I'm not sure if I'm being overly cautious or not, but better safe than sorry I suppose.'

'I'm at a loss for words. Not because something bad happened but quite the opposite. For the past 8 hours I've been worrying myself to death for nothing. Everything went perfectly. Several of my colleagues had come, and were quite impressed that Abigail lived. I'm actually insulted in a way, how incompetent do they think I am? My boss wasn't there, and I'm not sure why, but I'm relieved that she wasn't. Things are going to be harder from now on. I've just been given the ultimate responsibility, and I plan to do things right. I'll still keep up this journal however, mostly for the same reasons as before, although I pray that Abigail won't -.'


	10. Stroke

Note: Hello audience! Hope you liked the previous chapter! I'll be switching POV's around a lot through the story, but I'll always say when I do just as a little heads up. Romance reveal in two or three chapters! It's already pretty obvious already. *evil laugh*

When they got to Amarillo, Martin let Jackson take over driving, but that wasn't a good idea, soon after martin noticed Jackson turning paler, his hands began to shake, and he started to sweat. Jackson's head began throbbing, and he got supremely dizzy. As the world began to spin Martin was able to pull the van over into a gas station, and drag Jackson into the back into a small fold-out bed.

Martin had assumed it was stress and/or the flu, and continued driving to the Teufort base in New Mexico. They were only four hours away, and he was told that they had a great medical wing, and that it was better than most hospitals.

Jackson slipped into a fever dream about 45 minutes later. He was running away from something, he wasn't sure what exactly it was, but it was big. Somehow he ended up at a cliff, and was suddenly surrounded by a group of tall dark figures. They looked humanoid, but had pitch-black holes where the eyes should have been, and were a blood red in color. Behind them was a large purple beast with fangs dripping in blood. Jackson woke in shock as they came closer.

When he woke up he was surrounded by a group of people, but he couldn't see exactly what they looked like because his head hadn't cleared up yet, but that didn't stop him from leaping to his and attacking the closest one, which was a good 3 times larger than he was.

He was quickly subdued and strapped back to the bed. When his vision cleared up, he was in a hospital-like room, but the lighting was darker and it was obviously dirtier. The group had stood back a ways after he panicked. The one from before looked like a hairless bear, and was at least 7 feet tall. Next to him was a shorter man wearing a hardhat and goggles for some reason, he was smiling warmly at him. Then there was a person, gender unclear, wearing a red jumpsuit and a gas mask, who was making strange noises to a man with an eyepatch. Then there were two men who were standing to the side talking about something, one was wearing a helmet which covered his eyes, and the other was wearing a suit and ski mask. Lastly was a man in a long lab coat adjusting an IV next to him. Everyone was wearing red.

The man in the lab coat noticed that he came to his senses and began to ask him questions about what happened, and his overall health Jackson answered an the man murmured something about a TCI attack, and began rooting through a drawer in a nearby filing cabinet. As Jackson shifted uncomfortably, trying to free himself from the straps, the tall man walked over to him.

"I am sorry for before, you can forgive me?" he spoke in a Russian accent.

"Where am Oi?" Jackson managed to say, "Who are you?"

"You are in Teufort, we are team." He gestured to the group, "This is Engie, Pyro, Demo, Soldier, Spy, Doktor, and I am Heavy. You are Sniper, correct?"

"That's my job," Jackson looked around confused, "Moi name is…"

A hand flew up to his mouth, "We are not allowed to speak real names, only jobs."

Jackson briefly remembered something about that in his contract, but then his head began to hurt more, "What happened?" he grunted.

"You had a Transient Cerebral Ischaemic attack, now Herr Spy and Herr 'Eavy will watch you tonight, I need to go." He collected some things, handed some medication to Spy and scurried out the door. The Engineer, Pyro, Soldier and Demoman followed shortly after, leaving the three alone.

"What's wrong with 'im?" Jackson asked Heavy.

"Who?"

"The doctor."

"Oh, we do not know, he leaves every day at nine. We do not know where he goes, and he never says." Heavy thought for a moment, "Doktor is hiding something."

"He prefers to be called Medic." The man in the suit said with a familiar French accent, "He said to take one of these pills every day for the next few weeks." He showed him a large bottle of pills with instructions written on them. "Zhey are to make sure you do not have a stroke."

"S-stroke?"

"Yes, it appears a TCI attack usually is a warning sign for a true stroke. You are lucky I got you here."

"Mar-?" Jackson choked out; he was shaken up by the stroke statement.

"Yes, but you are now to call me Spy." Martin seemed colder than before.

"Enough about stroke," Heavy piped up, noticing Jackson's nervousness "We now change subject." He scratched his head, "What does tiny Sniper think about Medicine Bay?"

"I wish these straps weren't so toight." He huffed.

"Ah yes, promise you will not run, and I can take them off."

"Fine, Oi promise…"

Heavy gently undid the straps, "You are good at job?"

"Yeah."

"Good, you start in two days." The larger man grinned, "Your job is to-" Heavy gave him a brief summary of Jackson's job, then told him what everyone else did, and how they acted. "Although I do not know about Pyro, Spy and Doktor. Doktor doesn't talk unless he has to; no one understands Pyro and Spy just got here."

Jackson looked over to Spy who was staring out of a window. Something had happened while he was unconscious, and he was determined to find out what.


	11. Jackson's Thoughts

So, I'm not the best at this whole fanfic thing, but I'll still continue the story, just because of my crazy obsessive stubbornness and inability to quit. Not to mention how I know we all hate when someone just randomly quits writing a story without finishing it. I'm switching to first person in this chapter by the way. Trying to build onto Sniper's character here, diving into the subconscious of an anti-social young adult. Also, just a reminder, this is before he becomes the awesome and sexy character we all know and love, this is 18 year old Sniper, and Scout class is nonexistent at the moment, but will be introduced along with the romance. Oh did I give something away? Maybe... So enjoy, and as always, tips are welcome!

After I had finally been let out of the medical bay, I was put to work immediately. Even though I couldn't fight until the next day, because of TCI or whatever the Medic said. Basically, I was forced to do chores, washing dishes, laundry, floors, etc. Which wouldn't be too bad, but apparently my teammates are slobs. I found all manner of _stuff_ in the laundry, including what I can only guess to be an expired jellybean.

The worst thing however, was Soldier who constantly barked at me: "You call that mopping, Sunshine!?" "I've seen dead roaches that can sweep better than you, Maggot!" "There's a mess in the kitchen, Precious!" "If you can't even do _this_ right, how can you expect to survive in battle, Princess?"

Another thing about Soldier, was his nicknames for us, me in particular. Mostly he just called everyone else maggots, but for me he had a long list of names: Precious, Princess, Mary Sue, Sunshine, Weakling, Coward, Baby, Little Miss Muffin, Cowardly Lion, Dorothy, Bubbles, Tiny Tim, Cupcake and probably the worst was Private. I'm not entirely sure why it bugs me so much, maybe it's the amount of times he says it. Every other time he yells at me, he calls me private, and he yells at me a lot.

Most of the others picked up on Soldiers nicknames, except Medic and Pyro, mostly because I can't understand Pyro, and Medic never talks to me. I'm assuming it's because I'm the youngest, but I plan to wipe those grins of their faces when I'm on the battlefield tomorrow. For now though, I've got to put up with everyone.

I've decided that, when I'm allowed to, I'm going to live in my van.

I spent most of my free time trying to get answers out of Martin, but he usually just laughs me off or insults me, and here I thought he'd be the one person here I could talk to in this nut-house. Speaking of nuts, I've discovered that the rest of my teammates all have varying degrees of mental illness, the worst being Pyro and Soldier, and the best being Engie (As everyone calls him) and Demo, who I'm pretty certain is just drunk. I'm not entirely certain whether it's the stress of the job or if they were born like that, but one thing's for sure, I'm going to do my best to stay sane, and isolate myself from everyone.

Today was horrible to say the least, and now I have to stay in the medical bay for one last night, only this time Medic is staying overnight to make sure the medicine he gave me won't affect my performance. So far he hasn't actually said anything, but just keeps writing stuff down in a large notebook. When I tried talking to him, he just grunted. To make things worse, I discovered that he keeps _doves_ in here. I like animals, but birds, which are some of the most disease-ridden creatures I know, should never be in contact with the sick or injured.

It's about 3:00 am and the Medic finally talked, only it wasn't to me, it was to someone on the phone, I couldn't hear everything he said, and a lot of it was in German, but it went something like this:

"No- no, I'll be back tomorrow…"

"No, I have a patient right now and…"

"Yes, I promise, tomorrow at 5…"

"Yes, _schatzi_…"

I tried asking who he was talking to, and he just glared at me.

Last night was long, the whole time I couldn't fall asleep because the Medic kept running around doing who knows what, but mostly fiddling with some sort of device with three metal bits sticking out of the bottom. Every time I tried to start a conversation with him, he'd grunt or glare. The closest thing to a sentence he said was: 'It's is almost morning." And that wasn't even directed at me.

I've completely given up on him; I won't even need him on the battlefield.

The battle against Blu starts in about two hours, and, to be honest, I have no idea why we're even fighting. I don't care though, I've learned to never ask questions when money's involved.


	12. No Limits

So switching to third person now, hope you liked the previous chapter. I'll be referring to the classes by their class names for now by the way. Exactly one chapter till gushy romance, and I'm going to try super hard to write it, and I apologize in advance for any confusing parts. I'll try and keep plot holes to a minimum. As always, advice is welcome, and enjoy!

Sniper perched himself above the battlefield out of site. The object of the mission was to capture the enemies 'intelligence' which was a briefcase, and deliver it to their base.

When the battle started, several things seemed _off_. The first thing was there was a countdown. The second thing was the uniforms; the Blu had blue versions of the Red uniforms. Also Blu had the exact same classes that they did, they were different people, but obviously from the same countries they were from. The last thing was the most disturbing:

As Sniper picked off opponents, they kept reappearing about a minute later. They were the exact same people. When he jumped down from his perch to avoid a rocket from the enemy Soldier, the Red Demoman was shot square in the chest by someone. Sniper rushed over to see if he was alright, but his body disappeared, and a perfectly healed Demoman rushed out of their base.

Sniper panicked and ran back to his perch, trying to figure out what exactly was happening. What is the purpose of a battle if no one died, and stayed dead? His thoughts were interrupted by a sound behind him, a Blu Spy materialized.

"Hon hon hon!" his accent was obviously thicker than their Spy's, "They sent a rookie like you to fight in zis war?"

Sniper help out his kukri. "St-stay back!"

"I suppose I will have to teach you the first lesson of zis operation." He pulled out a watch and disappeared in front of him, "Watch your back!" his voice rang as a sharp pain shot through Sniper's back.

He was certain he was dead, he felt it. He felt like he was weightless for a moment, then he was filled with a feeling of pure bliss. When he was certain he was gone, an invisible hand snatching him back and pulled him down. When he opened his eyes he was laying down in a room marked: _Respawn_.

The Engineer appeared next to him and noticed his panicked state. "First time through Respawn?" he laughed warmly, "Don't worry, you'll get used to it soon." He tipped his hat as he jogged out.

A though wormed its way into Sniper's head. _This place has no death, no limits. I can do whatever I want with no set-backs. _But in a way he was wrong, at that moment something did die, it was any shred of conscience, compassion and humanity left in him, any mercy or kindness, any hope. It was at that moment, he became what he had hated for so many years, he had become like _him_.


	13. Scott and Mackenzie

I'm having a lot of fun writing this! So, romance-reveal time! It'll be towards the end of the chapter, and I'm working really hard on how they interact and such. Speaking of interactions, I'm planning some ANGST, and a lesser bromantic moment! And hopefully it'll be good. :D As always and tips are appreciated, and happy reading!

P.S. I've been working really hard, and am proud to say, that the ending will be AWESOME. For now I'll call it the Climax, and I promise you that it will be epic. Seriously, I was up till about 2 a.m. writing notes and stuff down. For now it'll be kinda slow moving, but it'll pick up speed in a bit.

10 years later…

They say war does things to a person's head. Maybe make them angry, sad, isolated, afraid…

Generally 'they' are referring to a regular war, if there is such a thing. One that last four years at tops, were there are breaks in between battles that last more than a day or weekend, were the people that die _stay_ dead.

This war has caused more than just fear or sadness in its pawns. Granted, there are elements of that, but it mostly caused something _deeper_. The pawns fighting this never-ending war had all of their humanity drained from them a long time ago, much to the pleasure of the master, who had successfully kept this war alive for ten years.

Although, as much as she loved her project, even she began to grow bored with it, although it was the 'resignation' of Blu Sniper that caused her to actually change something.

"I know what you've been doing, witch!" a tall man wearing blue stormed into Helen's office.

"And what is that?" Helen faked innocence.

"You've been keeping this bloody war alive for too long!" he drew a pistol, "and I'm gonna end it!"

"And why do you think I've been doing that?" she cackled.

"It doesn't matter why!" he snapped.

"Well, how will you explain to your little friends that their money isn't coming anymore?" she hissed, still maintaining a grin, "Or that the only thing they've known for the past ten years will suddenly be stopped?"

"I don't care!"

"Then why haven't you killed me yet?" her grin grew larger, "I'll let you in on a little secret, I've been keeping this war alive so I have control over Blutarch and Redmond Mann, two of the most powerful C. in the world."

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because you only have 3 seconds left to live…"

BLU Sniper began to pull the trigger in panic, but was interrupted by a sharp pain in the side of his head. He tried to move his arms and legs, but couldn't, and no respawn would be there to save him. He managed to move the corners of his mouth up however, and let out one last laugh. He was finally free.

Helen stood over the corpse and gestured to the person who shot him, "Miss Pauling, dispose of this trash for me, I'll be busy finding some new pawns."

About a week later three new recruits had arrived, a new sniper and two of a new class called 'scout'. To keep the BLU team from growing suspicious, Helen sent out a memo:

"BLU,

In response to the previous sniper's resignation, we have not only hired a replacement, but a new member to your team will be added in addition. For the moment we are calling it the 'Scout' class, and will specialize in speed-based attacks. Unfortunately the RED team has somehow had the same idea, and has recruited someone of the same skills. We will be looking in to the matter and ask that you continue your duties.

Thank you."

No one really paid attention to the notice except Heavy, who had put together a little welcome buffet for the new recruits. The first to arrive was the scout, he was skinny, but had some definition in his arms. He was quiet for the most part, but was still nice to everyone. No one really paid attention when he arrived.

However when the new sniper arrived, everyone stopped. The new sniper was shorter than the old one, skinnier than the last one and less _male_ than the last one.

"They sent a _woman_ to fight?" the BLU Spy began laughing uncontrollably.

The new Sniper grinned at him, then proceeded to pull out a shot gun, and silenced him with a trip to respawn. "I'm only going to be here while my uncle's in recovery, and if any one of you makes a remark like that again, you'll end up worse than him."

Heavy let out a hearty laugh and shook her hand, "I am Heavy, welcome to Team!"

The first battle went smoothly enough with the new recruits, the new scouts did their jobs, and the new sniper managed to get at least 11 headshots in the first hour. The new RED scout noticed this, and took matters into his own hands, and snuck into the BLU sniper nest.

He had his bat raised above his head, and was prepared to face the person who had been picking off teammates. He ran in and hit whoever it was over the head, but barely missed.

"Dude! Is that a bat?!" Scout was surprised to see a girl wearing a BLU version of RED Sniper's uniform in front of him, even more surprised when she started to laugh, "Oh man! I wish I couldn't have seen the look on my face! I bet it was priceless!"

"Wh-what?" Scout stammered, "Y-yer a girl!"

Her demeanor suddenly changed, and the Scout found himself against a wall with a large blade pressed to his throat.

"You don't think I've noticed that before, genius?"

"I mean, I thought they only hired guys."

"Not really helping your case, bud."

"Why haven't you killed me? There's that fancy respawn thing."

"Exactly, that stupid respawn makes this whole thing pointless." She sheathed her blade.

"What?" Scout asked rubbing his throat.

"Think about it, this thing has been going on for ten years, no one stays dead, and no one is allowed to leave."

"Look, I just got here."

"Me too, but my uncle was here since the beginning. He told me everything."

"What happened to him?"

"I was told he is in recovery from-" she suddenly realized she was talking to the enemy, "Why am I telling you all this?"

"No, wait; is this whole thing really pointless?" Scout was suddenly interested in what she had to say.

"From what I've seen, yes." she turned to look over the battlefield, "Almost like a cruel game."

"Then why are you here?"

Sniper began twirling a strand of hair around her finger, "To pay for my uncle's medical bills." Suddenly her demeanor changed again, she extended a hand to the Scout, "My name's Mackenzie, what's yours?"

"Um, Scott?" he shook her hand.

She giggled, "Scott the Scout, I've gotta remember that!"

Then a grenade flew into the room, sending both of them to respawn. When Scott woke up in respawn, his cheeks began to burn, and he couldn't help but smile.


	14. Max and the Super Pants

So, enjoy the big reveal? It'll get better that was just a reveal. Did you guess right? :D By the way, I know you're saying "Hey wait, wasn't her uncle dead?" well, I'm going to address that soon, but for now, we get to dive into Martin's past! Flashback time, my third favorite time behind Lunch and Adventure Time! I had a lot of fun with this chapter and made sure it will have SUPREME EXPOSITION! It's also in first person. The beginning to the Climax is just around the corner, and it starts with a bang! As always, critiques are welcome and happy reading!

~0~

Sometimes I wonder why I even bother staying here. Nothing happens. Some may think that constant action and excitement would be fun, but to me, it's just tiring. It's even worse having to constantly wear a mask.

Though I should be used to it by now, I have been doing it for ten years now. Some people find solace in a non-changing environment, but it you leave bread out without wrapping it up, it grows stale and moldy. However a change did come about a week ago. A new teammate. I don't know much about him, but he's supposed to be good at speed-based attacks. That is all fine and good, but ever since the first battle he was in, he's just been disappearing. I would follow him, but to be honest, I don't care anymore. Someone else will figure it out and do it, it's not like we're actually fighting for anything anymore.

The one thing that has caused me the most grief however, is Jackson. He reminds me so much of an old friend, and I'll admit it, it scared me when he had that stroke.

~0~

"_Hey Marty!" a friendly hand slapped Martin's back, "Enjoying the war so far?"_

"_Funny, and no." Martin huffed, "Explain to me why I ended up in this squad?"_

"_Don't pretend like you don't like us!" the person beamed, "We're the best spies the U.S. has to offer."_

"_Emphasis on U.S."_

"_Hey, this is a World War, not just France."_

"_Either way, I cannot wait until it's over…"_

"_None of us can…" the person sighed, "By the way, Max needs you."_

_~0~_

"_You wanted to see me, Monsieur Max?" Martin asked as he stepped into the workshop, which was cluttered with various pieces of wood and metal. At one of the end, a tall man with dark hair and bright green eyes worked on some sort of model._

"_No need to be so formal, Martin." he smiled warmly._

"_Fine… What do you need?"_

"_I had an idea…"_

"_It better not be stupid like the last one, I'm refuse to be banned from another M.A.S.H. unit."_

"_Not like that…" he walked over to a table with a large white cloth over it, "Ladies and Gentleman, boys and girls, I present to you…" he pulled the cloth off, revealing a pair of cargo pants._

"_Is this a joke?" Martin raised an eyebrow._

"_No, no, check this out!" he pulled out a little screen from his pocket, "It's got a tracker in it, so we'll know were troops will be at all times, and check this out!" he reached into a hidden pocket and pulled out a large knife, "Hidden sheath!" then began going on about the other various hidden weapons and how it still allowed someone to move properly. _

"_They're very nice pants, Max."_

"_They aren't just 'nice' pants, they're super-pants!"_

"_You do realize you aren't allowed to be drinking while on duty, right?"_

"_Funny, Martin, very funny."_

"_Why did you make these exactly?"_

"_Why not?"_

"_That is your answer for everything."_

"_If it ain't broke don't fix it!"_

_Martin groaned. "What are you going to do with them?"_

"_Maybe get them patented and get rich," Max sighed and looked to the ceiling, "then I won't have to spend all of my time in this trash pit. Ooh, I could get a huge ranch, and hunt everyday!"_

"_Your childish ideals are amusing."_

"_Well, Mr. Snooty, what would you do if you were rich?"_

"_Nothing to bold, I suppose, maybe settle down and have a family…"_

"_Right, like any lady is going to want a big jerk like you!" Max teased._

"_And as if a woman would want a filthy heathen like yourself." Martin cracked a smile._

"_What do you mean filthy?"_

"_You spend half your time in here, one quarter outside in the woods, and the last quarter in the bathroom."_

"_Aww, so you do care about what I do!"_

"_Ugh, you're impossible to insult, you know that right?"_

"_That's one of the many traits that make me irresistible."_

"_Ha!"_

"_Admit it; I'm the most attractive guy you know!"_

"_No, the most attractive guy I know is me."_

_The two began to laugh, but then Max suddenly doubled over, he began sweating and his right arm drooped lazily to one side._

"_Max, MAX!" Martin panicked trying to help his friend up, "Someone help!" he screamed into his radio._

_~0~_

_Martin stood in the hallways of the hospital. It quickly became a place he would never want to see again. A nurse walked out and put a hand on his shoulder. "We did all that we could, I'm sorry."_

"_What happened?"_

"_A stroke." Martin slid down the wall and ran his hand through his hair, the nurse sat down next to him, "He was a close friend, wasn't he?"_

_Martin nodded and laughed a bit, "He was probably the craziest man I've ever known."_

_The nurse laughed, "I've never met him in person, but I heard about what happened in that one M.A.S.H. unit."_

"_Oh no!" Martin ran his hands down his face._

"_I didn't know that they could be used for that." The nurse chuckled as Martin's cheeks grew red._

"_It was him who did it, I was just the distraction." Martin laughed remembering the old prank they had pulled as new recruits. "I still question the Sergeants sanity after he let us stay."_

_The nurse laughed, but was called by a doctor, "I've got to go! I'll see you around I guess."_

"_Okay," Martin sighed, "see you around."_

_~0~_

"_Yes, Martin?" a large man looked up from some papers._

"_General, this is about my resignation, sir." _

"_Ah," the general pulled out a sheet of paper, "I understand how you feel, boy, just know that running away isn't going to bring him back, believe me, I've tried."_

"_Yes sir."_

"_Do you really want to quit?"_

"_Yes sir."_

"_I can't change your mind?"_

"_No sir."_

"_Alright then…" he signed the paper, "Officer Martin Delacroix, you are hereby no longer part of this unit, you have twenty-four hours to remove your personal belongings from the premises."_

"_Thank you sir." Martin sighed as he left the office. He wasn't exactly sure where to go seeing as most of his family wasn't around. Eventually he began wandering around the country, sometimes taking up odd jobs, but never staying in one place for too long. He kept up the habit for 18 years, until he met Marie, and the rest is history_.


	15. Horror Movie Buddies

I have been having so much fun writing this, especially the previous chapter. Now we introduce yet another character! Well, technically I introduced her earlier, but time for her to be formally introduced. Also this is the fluff before the storm (ha) and once it ends, the downhill run begins. I promise I'm doing my best to make it entertaining! As always, I don't mind judgment, and happy reading!

Sorry, I just noticed that somehow this chapter got mixed up with the next. Don't worry I fixed it, and am kinda embarrassed. -_-' Hope this'll clear it up and stuff :3

~0~0~0~

It was just another day for the RED mercenaries; they had just finished another battle, which they lost, and Scout was 45 minutes late. His excuses ranged from: 'I was finishing off some BLU scum' to 'I decided to take a jog around the base." No one really questioned him because they didn't care. Soldier and Demo were having an argument, Heavy was watching a movie with Pyro and Engie, Sniper and Spy were throwing insults at each other, and Medic had disappeared.

Everything was 'normal' until Medic walked back in. This was such an oddity that everyone had stopped what they were doing to see why he was back.

Medic stood up straight and tried his best to look dignified, "My current place of residence has been destroyed, and I vill be ztaying here for a vhile. Also someone else will be living here, and you are to behave yourselves, because if you don't…" he took of his glasses and began polishing hem with his sleeve, "Not even the Respawn will be able to glue you back together."

"Who is this 'someone else'?" Demo asked from across the room.

"My daughter." Medic shot a glare around the room that could have easily caused everyone to spontaneously combust. "She will be here in twenty minutes and I expect you to treat her with respect."

"What gives you the right to order us around?" Soldier barked.

"I'm the one who saves you on the battle field on a daily basis, Herr Soldier." He shot one last glare across the room, and left.

"Who'da thought the doc would have a kid?" Engie stated after Medic was gone. Pyro shrugged and slowly everyone began going back to what they were doing.

~0~0~0~

At some point everyone had migrated over to the TV to watch the movie, it was an old horror film, which was actually pretty scary as far as horror films go.

"This isn't scary." Soldier announced about halfway through.

"Y-yeah what he said." Scout had pulled his knees up to his chest and his arms wrapped around them.

Just as the hero in the movie was about to face the monster, someone jumped in front of the screen, and yelled "Bwah!" at the top of their lungs, successfully scaring everyone. Scout ended up on the other side of the room, Heavy Demo and Engineer had fallen on the floor, Soldier screamed, Spy and Pyro high tailed it out of the room, and Sniper jumped behind the couch everyone was sitting on (or around).

Someone had turned on a light and revealed the person who scared them to be a young girl, no older than 15, with mid-length dark brown hair, and deep brown eyes, standing in the same spot laughing at them.

"Y-You should have seen…" she couldn't finish the sentence because she was laughing too hard.

Soldier got mad and lifter her off the ground by her collar, "You'll pay for that, maggot!"

"Um, you do realize I can easily get out of this hold right? All I have to do it this…" the girl did some sort of kick-punch combo and Soldier ended up on the ground, and she landed safely next to him, offering to help him up.

"I don't need yer help." He stood up, his cheeks turning tomato red.

"You're funny." The girl giggled, "I'm Abby, what's your name?"

Soldier stormed out of the room without answering, then the engineer walked over to her, "Don't mind him, he just get's little grumpy when his pride is hurt. Name's Engineer, this is Scout, Sniper, Demo, and Heavy. You must be Medic's-"

"Yep!" Abby grinned, "I think he's preparing my room right now."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, he's installing the security system!" Abby then skipped to the couch, and began to watch the movie which was still playing.

~0~0~0~

Scout and Heavy joined her after she put in a different movie; it was about chainsaw wielding monsters or something.

"So, why are they using chainsaws? Wouldn't they run out of gas?" Abby asked Scout and Heavy.

"Maybe they use magic chainsaws?" Heavy suggested.

"What kind of idiot would make magic chainsaws?" Scout teased.

"One who likes cutting down trees?" Heavy shrugged.

"Even if they're magic, that doesn't explain how the monsters got them." Abby pointed out.

"Maybe the person who made them magic owed the monsters a favor?"

"Or the monsters made them magic?"

"But wouldn't they have addressed that by now?"

They were interrupted by a chainsaw ripping apart flesh, and a monster feeding on the corpse. Scout shielded his eyes, Heavy nearly vomited, and Abby began to laugh.

"How can you find this funny!?" Scout squeaked.

"It's so unrealistic! A chainsaw wouldn't have made that clean a cut, and even if it could, the blood and bones and stuff would get stuck in the motor. Not to mention if the monsters are that big in the first place, why would they need the chainsaws? Couldn't they just bite them or something? This movie is just silly." Abby began picking stuff from under her nails.

"You do have point." Heavy raised an eyebrow.

"Eh, movies don't have the same physics as the real world." Scout stood up and stretched, but a scream and chainsaw noises froze him in place, "Oh, that's just sick!" he muttered as he sat back down.

The rest of the movie consisted of the government waging war on the chainsaw-wielding monsters, and ending like any other movie, in a poorly executed cliffhanger. Heavy fell asleep halfway though, shortly followed by Scout, Abby fell asleep last and somehow ended up on the floor.


	16. Two Little Labrats

Okay, now for another exciting episode of CAPTAIN EXPOSITION! This is a long chapter consisting of mostly dialogue and exposition, for the record. Also this is more or less a turning point in the story, and part of the setup for the Climax. As always PLEASE JUDGE ME! D: and enjoy! :3 P.S. At the moment, I will be doing a sort-of drabble thing to establish characters until the Climax, WHICH IS GOING TO BE SO EPIC! :D!

~0~0~0~

"Have fun, make friends," Abby called after the mercenaries as they left, "and play nice with the other kids!"

"Yeah, we'll try that!" Scout sarcastically called back, "I'll be sure to bring you a souvenir!"

When all the mercenaries left, a wicked grin grew on Abby's face. She snuck into the crew rooms, camera in hand, and began her conquest for things to embarrass the team with.

First stop: Heavy's room.

For such a big guy, Heavy had a tiny room. Maybe it just looked small because the massive bed was taking up at least half of it. Abby couldn't find much, except for a small bed with a gun shaped indent on it, and some Russian nesting dolls.

Second stop: Pyro's room.

_Okay, nothing's gonna jump out at me… _Abby reassured herself as she entered the forbidden lair of the beast simply known as 'Pyro.' She hadn't actually known him, but her dad told her stories. She cautiously stepped inside, and turned on the light. The room was littered with wrappers and sheets of paper. There wasn't anything in the closet except for a box. Her eyes widened when she saw what was in it. About 20 multicolored pony figurines. After she took some pictures, she hastily left the room making sure nothing was out of place.

Third stop: Scout's room.

Scout's room was strangely clean, everything was organized, absolutely nothing on the walls, oh what's this on the bookshelf?

"I spy with my little eye, something…" Abby pulled out the book and flipped to the first page, then quickly closed it and put it back, her eyes burning.

Another thing caught her eyes, on a desk was a picture of a family standing in a field; on the left was a young woman, very pretty, but with a certain sadness in her eyes. Next to her was a young boy, no older than 7, who bore a striking resemblance to Scout. Behind him was an older boy, who was obviously trying to create as much distance between the younger and a man whose face was covered with marker, but you could make out a poorly drawn moustache and horns.

She saw a clock and noticed she only had three hours left, and scurried through the hallways. She rounded a corner and bumped into someone.

"Oh, are you okay?" she asked the mystery person.

"Ugh, yeah." The person answered, it was a boy about her age with wheat colored hair, and bright eyes, which were almost as blue as the shirt he was wearing.

"Hi! I'm Abby!" she glanced at his shirt "Oh! Blue! You must be the enema!"

"W-what?! How could you mix those- Are you stupid?"

"Nope, I'm special!" Abby grinned, "What's your name?"

The boy huffed, "I'm not allowed to give away my name. No one is."

Abby giggled, "That's not how it works, I gave you my name, now you give me yours."

The boy stood for a moment; did this girl hear anything he just said? "I'm called Scout by my team…"

"Oh! We have one too! Do you know him?"

"Why would I? I'm on the other team! I'm supposed to kill your team!"

"Yeah, but it's not permanent, is it?"

"N-no…"

"Yay! So it's like a big game after all!" Abby jumped up and down, "Just like dodge-ball, only painful!"

"WHAT are you?"

"I told you! I'm Abby, silly!"

"Were you dropped on your head when you were born?"

"Nope, dad made sure that the extraction was successful!"

"Extraction?"

"Oh, right not everyone is born the way I was! I'll explain! Y'see first dad took some DNA then made a fetus, me, and put me in this tube-y thing where I stayed for nine months!" she explained proudly.

"You're weird…" Scout began walking backwards slowly.

"Aww, thank you!" Abby smiled, "So, what'cha doing here?"

"Umm… looking for RED Medic's office."

"Oh, my dad's lab!"

"Um, your dad is the RED Medic?" Memories of being shot by an invinsible Heavy, and being chopped up by a bone saw flooded his mind, all ringing with that horrible-maniacal laughter.

"Yup! Oh, and his office is this way!" she grabbed his hand and dragged him down the hallway to a waiting room looking area, "So what are you here for?"

"Are you for real?"

"Yep! Please tell me!"

"See, when R- your dad uses this gun that heals people for an amount of time…"

"Oh! The Ubercharge!"

"That's what you call it?" he raised an eyebrow as Abby nodded, "How does it work?"

"Easy, dad installs this thing on a person's heart that basically makes blood invincible by making the molecules in the blood vibrate at a super speed, and since blood is…" she noticed Scout's surprised look, "Are you okay?"

"What exactly are you?"

"I told you, silly!"

"I mean, why are you telling the enemy this stuff? How do you exist?"

"I don't understand what you're saying, I already explained everything."

"Ugh, I'm the enemy, why are you telling me all this stuff? This is a war."

"Nope! It's just a game!"

"War isn't a game!"

"This one is, silly! It's got rules, and no one is actually hurt, and everyone's evenly matched and it has weird goals. Like the briefcase thing that teleports around!"

The boy stood for a second, she was actually making sense, "Why are you so stupid, but say smart things?"

"Just because someone tries to see the bright side of things or be nice to someone doesn't make them stupid! Also knowing lots of things doesn't always make you smart!" Abby cheerfully ignored his insult, "Anyway, why do you need the Ubercharge?"

"Well, we're trying to even the playing field. So we need to use the 'Ubercharge' heart thing."

Abby walked around him, looking up and down inspecting him, "Nope, you don't need ours!"

"What do you mean?"

"You've already got it!" Abby clapped, "You've got the A.S.N.L.S.S too!"

"What are you talking about? What's ahz-nuhllz?"

"The Artificial Skeletal Nervous and Life Support System, they originally wanted to just call it the Artificial Skeletal System, but they changed it for some reason, I'm still not sure why."

"What do you mean I already have it?"

"You ask so many questions!" Abby sighed, "But you're cute, so I'll answer! Obviously you have an early prototype of the Ubercharge-heartbeat-converter unit and A.S.N.L.S.S."

"How can _you_ tell?" he asked, completely oblivious to the 'cute' comment.

"I can tell because of this!" she held out his hand and pointed to a small freckle on the back of his hand.

"A freckle?"

"Nope!" she ran into a closet and came back out with something resembling a microscope, labeled 'magni-max' and held it over the freckle, revealing a small code of numbers, "I have one too!" she pointed to a small dot on her wrist.

"Okay, something's going on what is it?" he stood up straight, his fists trembling.

"Lots of things!" Abby chirped, "I think you just want to know what's going on here, so I'll tell you! First off; I came here because some people burned down my house in an attempt to kill me because I'm an experiment, like you! I think they'll come for you next. Then there's this evil lady, who I'm pretty sure is the person trying to kill us. Lastly, this is my favorite part, this whole war thing is just a game, its whole purpose is to keep Mr. Redmond and Mr. Blutarch Mann from noticing that the evil lady is controlling their respective companies!"

"WHAT!?"

"Why do you ask so many questions?"

"HOW ON EARTH IS ANY OF THIS POSSIBLE?! If you're telling the truth, why are you so happy, shouldn't you be scared?"

"Nope, fear just keeps people from thinking clearly, just like our Scout and your Sniper! They've figured it out already, but they're just too scared to tell anybody!" she leaned in to whisper, "I also think that they're dating, but don't tell anybody I told you."

"Okay, I'm done!" The scout threw his hands in the air in defeat, "You're just psychotic. Goodbye!" he began to leave.

"Why are you leaving?"

"Have you not been listening to me? You are a psychotic moron! There is no way anything you said could possibly be true!"

Abby frowned for the first time; she whispered "I knew nobody would listen…"

"No duh, lady!"

"If nobody wants to believe the truth, why do they ask for it?"

"Huh?"

"You asked me a question, and I gave you the answers, but then you didn't believe them!"

"That's because you are obviously psychotic."

"What is psychotic?" Abby glared at him, "I'll answer that for you! It's what _normal _people call people they don't understand. I thought you were different, like me, and maybe we could be friends, but obviously that isn't happening!"

"You want to be friends with the enemy?"

"I told you, this war doesn't matter, it's a game, a distraction! Now that I'm talking _normally _do you believe me?" Abby slid down the wall and hugged her knees, "I can't believe I was dumb enough to think someone would actually do something. As long as they're fed, the dog will roll over." She hissed the last sentence bitterly.

The boy looked around, trying to figure out what to do, "Um, even if I believed you, what could I do?"

"One voice is always ignored, even if it speaks the truth."

Scout sat down next to her, and put his arm around Abby's shoulder "Look, I really don't want to admit it, but what you're saying actually makes sense, I'm just afraid that it's true."

"Afraid?"

"Yeah, because if what you said is true, we're in trouble."

"So you do believe me?" Abby smiled at him sweetly.

"Not entirely, but…"

"Close enough!" Abby said as she randomly hugged him, "Now, get back to your team before they miss you, then figure out everything you can about the evil lady, and meet me here tomorrow during the battle, and I'll get my dad and Scott to help us. Oh, and you get Mackenzie on board while you're at it!"

"Okay, three questions, what do you know about this 'evil lady', who's Scott, and who's Mackenzie?"

"You ask lots of questions, I like it. The evil lady is the person who announces stuff, she is called the Announcer or the Administrator, and she has several henchmen. Scott is our Scout, and Mackenzie is your Sniper!"

"Okay, last question, how do you know all of this?"

"My dad works in the Teufort labs, so I have access to all the security monitors and files. I noticed Scott and Mackenzie in the BLU Sniper Post, they were touching their lips together for some reason, so I decided to look up their files, long story short, I overheard Mackenzie say something about this being like a game, and I noticed it too! Then the evil lady tried to kill me, because she's afraid that I was a successful experiment, but I think she might know that I know about her plans. Now you know, so you'll probably be attacked too."

"Y'know, if I die because of you, I'm going to find a way to kill you."

"Okay!" Abby grinned, "Now tell me your name!"

"I thought we've been over this, I'm not allowed to tell you my name."

"I can find out right now if I want too. I can look up everyone's names, but I respect your privacy, somewhat, so I'm asking."

"Ugh, my name's Nathan."

"Hi, Nathan! I'm Abby! We're friends now!"

"You're one of a kind aren't you?"

"Yep! Now get back to your team before they miss you, and remember the plan!"

Nathan began to jog out of the waiting room, "Got it! See you tomorrow, Abby!"

"Bye, Nathan!"Abby chirped after him, "See you tomorrow!" after he left she looked around, and giggled, two hours left, just enough time to explore Engie and Demo's rooms.


	17. Flight of the Monarchs

So, I had a lot of fun writing the dialogue in the last chapter, I hope you guys had fun reading it. Now for icky-gooey-love-mush-fluffy-ness. You people have no idea what torture I put myself through writing this! Expect several updates in the next few days, I just had dental surgery, and I'm going to be writing while in recovery. I may even finish it earlier than expected! The Climax it just a hop and skip away, and I'm super-excited, but before the drama, ugh, it's time for fluff. As always, I enjoy tips, and you should enjoy this story! Or not. I'm flexible.

~0~0~0~

Scott snuck into the BLU sniper outpost, keeping an eye out for the BLU Spy. The BLU Spy made life terrible for RED, not because it was his job, but because it was funny to him.

Whenever he got inside, Mackenzie was waiting for him, "Hey, you going to hit me with a bat again?"

"How'd you know I was coming?"

"Magic." She pointed at a security monitor in the corner.

"Oh!" he rubbed the back of his neck and sat on a box near the exit, "So, what'cha up to?"

"The usual." she shot at someone outside and a scream was heard, "The question is; what are _you_ doing?"

"O-oh, just making sure you're okay." He frantically tried to think of a reason, "Making sure this job wasn't too hard on you."

"To hard on me?" Mackenzie laughed and shot someone else.

"Y-yeah," Scott decided to change the subject, "So, you have any family?"

"Well there's my Uncle Lawrence who raised me after my Mom and Dad died in a car wreck when I was six. He's probably the most amazing person ever." Mackenzie answered, shooting yet another RED team member, "You got a family?"

"I… don't want to talk about them…"

"Hey, I told you about my family, now you tell me about yours."

"You're not going to let me go until I tell you, are you?"

"You catch on fast."

"Fine, I had a mom and brother, but they _passed away_ when I was little."

"You got a dad?"

Scott's ears turned red, "You could say that…"

"What'd he do?"

Scott shot her a glare, indicating that that was a touchy subject.

"Fine, whatever." Mackenzie began to reload her gun, "Where you from?"

"The worst neighborhood Boston has to offer." Scott answered bitterly, "You?"

"A little town in Tasmania. People were nice enough, I guess."

"_Tasmania_, weren't there, like, prisons and stuff there?"

"Yeah, that's how my family got there to begin with! My great grandpa was a guard there, and he fell in love with one of the convicts. She gave birth to my grandpa before she was executed."

"How romantic?" Scott couldn't think of anything else to say, "What was she convicted for, exactly?"

"I think it might have been first degree murder." Mackenzie guessed nonchalantly, "I actually have the blade that she used."

"W-what?!"

"Yeah, it's right here." She held out a large blade, "I think I almost used it on you when you first came here."

"WHAT?!" Scott stood up, "You keep a weapon used in first degree murder with you?!"

"It's not like it was the blade's fault."

"That's not the point! This thing was used for _manslaughter_!"

"We kill each other on a daily basis."

"But we don't _stay _dead. You said it yourself!"

Her demeanor changed suddenly, "It's not like we can change any of it, permanent or not."

"Okay, you've been up here too long!" Scott pulled her out of her seat, "There's a ceasefire tomorrow, I'm going to meet you near the pond at 5 in the morning, got that?"

"Five a.m.? Really?" she moaned.

"Yes, promise you'll be there?" he held out his hand, "Shake on it."

She looked at his hand, and then at his eyes, they were deep and sincere. She hesitatively shook his hand. "Fine, I promise."

~0~0~0~

Scott waited by the large pond. A cool breeze caused small ripples to form on its glassy surface. Even though the battlefield was just a few yards away, somehow the pond had remained untouched and free of debris. It was the only pure thing left in this wasteland, and it became an unwritten law. Somehow, that no one was to mess it up.

Scott had set up a cratenear the edge, and a bag sat near it. He was waiting patiently for Mackenzie, but began to worry at about 5:30. _What if she forgot? What if she is hurt? What if somehow she died on the way over?_

His heart leapt when he saw her slowly dragging her feet towards him. "Sorry I'm late, my alarm woke up Medic, and he- isn't a morning person- to say the least."

"Ha, neither is ours, yesterday he nearly knocked Soldier out when he brought out that stupid bugle."

"He actually wakes you guys up with a bugle?" Mackenzie began to laugh.

"Yeah, if playing it doesn't work, he just hits us with it."

"Wow! That must be terrible!" she laughed harder, "Our soldier sleeps in until about five minutes before battle." She suddenly stopped laughing, "Speaking of sleeping, why did you drag me out here?"

"You'll have to wait about thirty minutes to see it…"

"Seriously?" Mackenzie huffed.

"Don't worry; I brought some stuff to pass the time." Scott scurried to his bag and pulled out a blankets and a handheld video game of some sort.

"Is that the only blanket you have?"

"Yeah, I think Pyro took the rest for some reason." Scott gestured for her to sit on the crate, next to him, and held out the blanket, "Hurry up, you'll catch a cold."

Mackenzie hopped onto the crate and snuggled next to Scott underneath the blanket. Scott handed her the game, "Just press that button to turn it on…" he instructed.

The two played the game, rotating every time one of them died or cleared a level, for about twenty minutes, then Scott suddenly said, "Here it comes!" he pointed out to the horizon where a streak of orange began to form over the desert. As the sun slowly rose, it painted the sky with shades of red, orange, and yellow. The sky directly above them had turned a dark purple, and the few clouds that dotted the sky turned peachy. All of the colors were reflecting in the water.

"It's a beautiful sunrise but…"

"Wait, they'll be here in a minute."

As soon as he said that, a mass began to form in front of the sunrise.

"What's that?"

"Every October Monarch Butterflies pass through New Mexico. Wait until they get closer."

As the mass approached, you could barely make out the shapes of wings, and they began to look more orange. Soon they were only a few yards away.

"Here they come!" Scott shouted as the wall of orange and black approached.

Soon the couple was surrounded by fluttering wings. Some of the butterflies even landed on them. The orange of their wings mixing with the reds and purples of the sunrise, created a sea of color. Mackenzie laughed as the sea of wings beat against her and Scott. Scott reached his arm around her, as he stared at the scene in wonder.

One butterfly landed on his nose, causing him to sneeze, and Mackenzie to giggle. After it flew off, their eyes met. They began to move closer to each other, their eyes closing slowly. Soon their lips met, and warmth spread over them. They stayed like that for a minute before going back to watching the sea of color swirling around them.

As the last few butterflies flew by, Scott let out a sigh, "You glad you came out here?"

"Oh, yeah." Mackenzie said, snuggling closer to him, "How'd you know they'd be here."

Scott's ears grew red, "Oh, um, when I was little my Mom used to drive my brother and I out to see them, um, some also pass through Boston. My brother didn't like it, so I pretended not to, but…"

"Sounds like you and your brother were close."

"We were, until…"

"What happened to him?"

Scott sighed, "Promise you won't tell anyone?"

"I promise."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Okay, so, when I was like, little and stuff, my dad left to serve in the military, and went overseas, so I never met him. Mom and Jim, my brother, never talked about him, so I never really asked. Then suddenly this man shows up on our doorstep when I'm 5, and, turns out, he's my dad. I can't really remember much, but half the time he was rambling on about how hard the war was, and the other half he was beating on Jim and Mom, but never hits me. When I asked mom what was going on, she always said that 'dad just had a bad day'. Then one day, when I'm like 9, Jim suddenly runs into my room while I'm asleep, and drags me outside, I ask him what's going on, and he says 'Dad's gone nuts, we need to get out!' So we're running through this alley, right? When suddenly my mom catches up to us, and pulls us into our neighbor's house. And this neighbor was a little on the crazy side, she had like 20 cats, but she was really nice, and gave my brother and I cookies and stuff. Anyway, so we're hiding in her house, and mom says we're moving away tomorrow. Then our neighbor's door suddenly falls down, and my dad is holding this gun. Mom shoves me and my brother into a pantry, and starts trying to calm my dad down, but he keeps going on about how she's an enemy or something, then he _shoots her_, and if that's not enough, he starts shooting all of the cats in the house, and our neighbor. So my brother and I are in the pantry, trying not to make a noise, and we don't, but then my dad pulls out these matches, and lights the place on _fire_. So naturally we have to get out, we almost get to the doorway, when out of nowhere the ceiling falls, and we're trapped, then my dad randomly runs in, and drags me out, but leaves Jim. I pass out from the fumes, but when I wake up I'm in a hospital, and this nurse is singing something while she's treating my burns. She notices I'm awake, and tells me that I've got to go to court and testify for my dad. When I get there, guess what my dad told the court."

"What?"

"Okay, this is the exact story he told them: 'My wife and sons were staying in mom's friend's house, and he sees this person trying to break in, he runs in, and mom's on the floor dead, and he can't find us, then the guy sets the place on fire, and the ceiling falls. Then he sees me trying to help Jim out from under some rubble, and drags me out, but can't save Jim.' I'm hacked off at this point, and trying to stay calm, but then…" Scott trailed off, tears began to for in his eyes.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine."

"What happened?"

"This lawyer had the balls to bring in her skull. I mean, it wasn't a model, it was her actual skull, and there was even this bullet hole which had some brains stuck in it. Oh, and the smell… It was terrible. So I jump up, and start to yell at him, and the judge tells me to come up to the stand to tell my side of the story, and they don't even take the skull away! It's just sitting there, watching me. So I try to ignore it, and tell them my side of the story. Suddenly my dad's lawyer, he brought in the skull I think, asks me 'How did you get out of the house?" so I have to tell him the truth, then he starts asking questions about whether or not my dad has ever hit me, and stuff like that, then makes it seem like he's a friggin' hero! When I say that he started the fire, the lawyer asks if I was unconscious, I tried to tell him I only passed out at the end because of the smoke, and then he pretties it up, saying that I was delusional because of fumes or something! Long story short, he ended up winning the trial, I'm put in therapy, and I still have to live with my dad up until I turned 17…" he trailed off again, tears were streaming down his cheeks.

"What happened then?"

"You sure you want to know?"

"Yes."

"Only if you promise you won't hate me."

"My great-grandma was a murderer and I carry around her weapon. Whatever you tell me won't make me hate you."

"Okay, fine. It's my seventeenth birthday, and my dad comes home drunk, he's yelling about the war, and sees me sitting at the table, enjoying a piece of cake. He comes over to me, flips the chair I'm in, and starts attacking me. I manage to kick him off and run into the kitchen before he can get up. I grab this knife on the counter, I used it to cut the cake, and I hold it in front of me to keep him away. He just laughs and starts ranting about how I'm a bad soldier or something, then grabs a shotgun from this cabinet next to him, he goes to shoot, but I run up to him, and…" he wiped the tears out of his eyes, "I stabbed that jerk right in the throat."

Mackenzie pulled him into a hug and he began to cry into her shoulder.

"I-it felt so good at first, then I got scared, he's just laying there covered in blood and cake, so I called the police. Then I end up in an insane asylum. I was in there for two years! The therapists keep saying that I was delusional, and that I panicked or something, then this one therapist takes me to my father's grave about a month in, and guess what the headstone said."

Mackenzie hugged him tighter.

"Here lies Scott Steele, a wonderful soldier and father."

"You were named after him?"

Scott stared into space for a moment, "My mother named me after him. That's the only reason I keep it."

Mackenzie held him as tight as she could, "Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." He hugged her back, and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, "Feels good to get it off my chest, actually."

The two stayed in each others' arms for about 20 minutes, watching the remainder of the sunrise. Suddenly a voice startled them, "Scott!" a female's voice called, "I've got a question for- oh hi! You must be Mackenzie!" Abby ran up to them, "I'm Abby! Nice to meet you!"

"Um, hi Abby?" Mackenzie turned to Scott and raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, hi Abby, what are you doing here?" Scott asked Abby, irritated.

"Oh, I have a ques-" she was interrupted by another voice.

"Sniper? Where are- oh there you are!" Nathan ran up, "Oh, um, hi Abby, and um, RED Scout."

"Hello…" Mackenzie growled at the BLU scout.

"Oh good, we're all here that makes things easier!" Abby chirped, "Look, this isn't a good place to talk, can you two meet us in my dad's office in an hour?"

"Wh-what?" Scott stood up, "Why?"

"I'll tell you when we get there, Mackenzie, you come too."

"Wait, how do you know my name?" Mackenzie was now standing up.

"Oh, I know everyone's names! Including those on BLU." Abby replied, "Anyway, one hour, RED medicine bay. Bye!" Abby called as she ran off. Leaving the two Scouts and Sniper at the shore of the pond.

"So, um…" Nathan started, "I came here to tell you the same thing, so…"

"Dude, what's going on?" Mackenzie walked up to him.

Nathan looked around, and whispered: "We're coming up with a plan."

"For what?" Scott walked over to them.

"I can't say, it's a secret for now…" Nathan rubbed the back of his neck, "Look, I gotta go help Abby, cya in an hour." He ran off after Abby.

"What was that all about?" Scott turned to Mackenzie.

"I guess we've got to go to a meeting?" Mackenzie shrugged her shoulders, "Who was that girl anyway?"

"Oh, that's just Abby, she's a little nuts."

"That much I know."

"She's Medic's daughter."

"Wow, that bloodthirsty psychopath had a kid?!" Mackenzie remembered being assaulted with a bonesaw.

"Yep, I was surprised too." Scott shifter uncomfortably, "So we going to the meeting?"

"I guess, but if it's a trap…"

"Don't worry, it's a ceasefire. Not even Medic would attack you today."

"Okay… see you in an hour…" Mackenzie started to walk to BLU HQ.

"Okay, bye…" Scott began to gather his things, "Love you…"

Mackenzie froze for a moment then continued her walk back to HQ.

Once she was gone, Scott fell backwards into the dirt and slapped his forehead with his hand, "Ugh! I'm such an idiot!"


	18. The Meeting

So, the last chapter was long, and turned out better than I expected. I had to do some research on butterflies, but I guess it paid off. Guess what? The Climax, which is going to be long and awesome, is only a few chapters away! I guess the story is three parts; Back-story, Drabble-y thing, Climax. By the way, character death is upon us, I won't go into detail who, but I promise that it'll come out of nowhere. This chapter is going to be angsty and crap, and holy cow I'm having fun with this! Not just this chapter, but the story in general. Also, I'm recovering from having my teeth beat up by the dentist pretty nicely! Although it hurts like nobody's business and I can't sleep. So I get to write this until I recover! Yay! Insanity is on the horizon, and, as always, review and enjoy! :D

~0~0~0~

At about noon, everybody had gathered in the RED Medic's office. Even the BLU's had gotten in safely. Abby and Nathan had gotten there first, and had set up seats for everyone. Red Medic arrived next, and was locking up important files and experiments, in case one of the BLUs got any funny ideas. Scott came in next and sat in a corner near the door. Mackenzie came in later, and she brought BLU Heavy with her, Medic didn't like this at first, but Abby convinced him that having more people on their side was a good thing. Mackenzie sat on the opposite end of the room as Scott, and BLU Heavy sat next to her. The last person to come in was RED Spy, no one really knew who told him about the meeting but he wasn't really questioned, he sat next to Nathan, who was sitting next to Abby.

Once everyone had arrived Abby stood up, "So, I know you're all wondering why you're here…"

"Is it about the angry lady who yells at us?" BLU Heavy suddenly said, surprising everyone, "I, um, heard you and tiny Scout talk about it over radio, no one else heard though."

Abby shot a glare to Nathan and continued, "Yes, well, she's been keeping this war going on for ten years now-" she explained to them everything she knew, "And now we're here to think of a plan to take her down before she kills us!" she chirped, and sat down.

"Wait, why would she try to kill us?" Scott asked.

"Oh, not you, probably, mostly me and Nathan." She answered in a sing-song voice, no one notice Spy shift in his seat, "Dad'll explain! Right?" she looked to her father, who reluctantly sighed.

"Yes, I believe that our employer is trying to get rid of them because of their 'condition'." He pinched the bridge of his nose, as if recalling painful memories.

"What _condition_?" Spy asked with a hint of bitterness in his voice.

"Vell, it's hard to explain in front of…"

"We're experiments." Abby interrupted, "I was artificially created to be a perfect soldier, and Nathan has the prototype for the A.S.N.L.S.S. and U.H.C."

"What are those?" Spy's palms began to sweat.

Abby started going on a long rant about how the two devises functioned, and Medic frequently added in extra little facts, and filled in were Abby left off. "Basically, they keep him alive." Abby finished.

"What does this have to do with the rest of us?" Scott piped up.

"Oh, well we all sort-of know too much, and will probably end up dead if we don't do something soon. Although I'm not sure about you…" she directed her attention to Spy, "Why are you here exactly?"

Spy shifted in his seat, "I have my reasons…"

_That voice sounds familiar…_ Nathan thought to himself.

Before the subject could be pressed further, RED Sniper suddenly came in, "Hey, Doc I-" he looked around at everyone, "What's goin' on?"

"Ooh! I can answer-" Abby started but was cut off by Medic.

"Ve are going to overthrow our employer before she kills us." He raised an eyebrow at him, "Now she'll probably go after you too."

"Okay, I 'ave no idea what you're talking about, but why are there BLUs here?"

"Just sit down." Medic pointed at an empty seat next to Spy.

He sat down and shot a glare towards the BLU heavy and sniper.

"Okay, any more interruptions?" Medic glanced around the room, "No? Then we need to think of a way to …"

"Can I say something first?" Abby interrupted, Medic sighed and nodded, "I think it would be a good idea to introduce ourselves formally if we are to work together. Since it'll be hard addressing each other as classes, especially since there are two scouts and two snipers."

"Seriously?" Mackenzie groaned, "Aren't we supposed to keep our names secret?"

"It doesn't really matter, I have access to everyone's names, and I could just show you them." Abby shrugged.

"Ugh fine!" Mackenzie grunted, "I'm Mackenzie Beatrix Douglas."

"I am Viktor Petrov." The heavy added a laugh.

"Scott Steele the second…" Scott huffed.

"Abigail Isis Frei!" Abby sang.

"Dominik Frei." Medic grunted.

"Jackson Mundy." Jackson sighed, knowing there was no way out of this.

"Nathan Benjamin Delacroix." Nathan faked a smile.

Everyone's gaze fell to Spy, who just looked away.

"It's your turn, sir." Nathan tapped his shoulder.

"I can tell you if you want!" Abby chirped, but was quickly silenced by her father.

"Even if I told you, it would make no difference with this," he pointed at his mask, "_thing _on."

"Just take it off." Mackenzie groaned, "No one cares."

"That is a can of worms I do not wish to open."

"It's not like no one has ever seen you without it." Abby was tapping her foot, "Besides, I think you do want to tell him, but you're just scared."

"W-what are you talking about?"

"Access to everyone's files; that includes D.N.A. and family trees." Abby had moved out of the way to avoid a swat from her dad.

"What are you talking about?" Nathan turned to her.

"N-nothing!" Spy suddenly squeaked.

"Abby, tell us!" Nathan turned to her.

"No, I'm not allowed to say." Abby crossed her legs.

"Come on!"

"Nein!" she suddenly barked at him and stood up, "I am not allowed to tell."

"Okay, I've had enough of this." Jackson stood up, "I thought we were having a meeting about something important, not Martin's family problems."

Suddenly Dominik slapped his hand on his forehead.

"S-shut up filthy bushman!" Martin stood up.

"What are you talking about?" Nathan stood up next.

Scott snuck over to Mackenzie, "What's the matter?"

"What do you mean?" she crossed her arms and tried to look aloof.

"I'm sorry about earlier…"

Before someone could blink the whole room was suddenly filled with shouting, until Viktor stood up, "QUIET!" everyone fell silent, "We are supposed to be team! Now we will settle this like adults, and not small children!" he turned to Nathan, Abby, Jackson and Martin who were standing in the middle of the room, "First we settle this issue, Spy remove mask."

"B-but…"

"Now." Heavy growled.

Martin stood for a moment, looking around the room, he slowly removed the mask, revealing an aging face with dark brown hair, with a few grey streaks running through the side, and deep blue eyes.

"Name." Heavy growled again.

He sighed, "Martin Delacroix."

Nathan stepped back with wide eyes, his hands flew up to the dog tags around his neck.

"Now, tiny man and leetle girl apologize to Martin."

Jackson and Abby muttered 'sorry' before they retreated to their seats.

"Now, for your issue." He turned to Scott and Mackenzie, and pointed at Scott, "You tell me your side of story."

"Look, all I did was say something, and she's been like this ever since."

"Now you say what happened." He pointed at Mackenzie.

"It's just- he said _something_. And I'm just not ready for that kind of relationship right now."

"Is there reason for you to fight?"

"No…"

"I guess not…"

"Good, now behave." He glared at them, "Now we get back to important issue. Doktor, what is plan?"

"Um, thank you," he shot a glance around the room, "For now, we need to keep up the façade that we do not know about our employers 'project' but-" he relayed a plan that was basically storming the Mann Co. HQ, "Everyone understands?"

A series of yeahs and uh-huhs shot around the room.

"Good, now just pretend nothing happened right now, I'll send a message the day before the attack."

Scott scurried out of the room, and he was quickly followed by Jackson. Then Abby pulled Mackenzie into the hallway.

"So, I heard that you and Scott are…" she whispered.

"No we aren't." Mackenzie huffed.

"Look, I don't care, but Scott is a close friend, and if you do anything, _anything at all, _to hurt him, you won't even be able to walk when I'm through with you. Got that?" Mackenzie was shocked by Abby's sudden personality change, and stood bewildered as Abby stormed off, then ran away a minute later.

Heavy soon left, leaving Nathan, Martin and Dominik alone. Nathan was still trying to comprehend what just happened, and Martin was standing next to him. Dominik was sitting at his desk.

"Are you okay?" Martin asked Nathan, his mask still off.

"What do you think?" he snapped, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I- didn't know how you'd react."

"How'd you think I'd react?! I thought you died!" Nathan stood up so he was looking him straight in the eye, "Ma was worried sick about you! How could you just leave like that?!"

"It's complicated…"

"I don't care! Answer me!"

Martin pinched the bridge of his nose, "Remember when you were little, and you nearly died?"

"Y-yeah?"

"Well, they had to install this machine of sorts to save you, but it was expensive. So I had to take this job to pay for it."

"M-machine," gears were spinning in Nathans head, and suddenly something clicked, and he turned to Dominik, "Abby said something about experiments, tell me what you did to us."

He stood up and walked to a window, "I was recruited by Teufort to design a perfect soldier, that was Abby, then about a month after she was born, I got a call from the head of my department. He told me to design a device that would turn people, who were already alive, into super-powerful beings. That was the 'Ubercharger'. I was told to bring it to a small hospital in Boston. After I delivered it, I was told that it would be installed on an infant, in an attempt to revive it. Then about five years later, they tell me to build a life support system; that was the A.S.N.L.S.S. I was told to deliver it to Boston." He turned around, "Only recently I learned what it caused, and for that I am sincerely sorry."

"Sorry?! You performed two experiments on me without anyone knowing. Your own daughter is just a lab rat for who-knows-what. You turned me into a freak, and that's all you have to say?!"

Dominik turned to Martin, "Aren't you going to say something?"

"It is your fault that we weren't allowed to live a normal life." He lit a cigarette.

"Speaking of normal, what did you do to Abby?! Why isn't she normal? What is this 'perfect soldier' garbage?!" Nathan barked.

Dominik just stood silently.

"Are you going to answer me, old man?!" his face was turning red.

He continued standing silently.

"Is that all she is to you?! An _experiment_?!" he spat out bitterly, "I bet that's true, isn't it? What if I told her that?! Would you even care?!"

He suddenly growled at him, "You are just hurt and aren't thinking clearly."

"Of course he's hurt!" Martin snapped at him.

Silence spread over the room for a moment, until Nathan broke it, "I've had enough of this garbage. You two can go die or something for all I care." He stomped out of the room, and when he got to the end of the hallway, he started to run. He bolted through the hallways, ignoring the shouts behind him, and shot across the battlefield towards the pond, leaving a trail of dust behind him.


	19. Machine

Okay, we're on a downhill run now, and I've got about 20 loose ends to tie up by the end. So I've done the math, and there are about 5 or so chapters left until the fun part. These 5 chapters are stand alone stories for the most part, but they tie together in the end. Also, if you find yourself liking a character for some reason, I think it's only fair to warn you that I'm going to put all of them through torture, and at least 4 'main' characters are going to die. I wasn't originally going to kill them off, but writing is like kicking an ant hill, you can control what happens in the beginning, but after the first kick, you lose any power over it. Lastly; I am recovering from the surgery wonderfully, but I've got to go in for 3 root canals in a month… -_-' As always, review and enjoy! (Also I used Google Translate, so please tell me if something was wrong)

P.S. I just saw my views-per country thing, and I am amazed. I can't believe people from literally all over the world have read this. Malaysia, Russia, Romania, Denmark, and about 14 other countries! Thank you! Thank you, wonderful people! I'll do my best to make the story as awesome as I can, just for you guys!

P.S. x2 I just looked over the beginning of the story, and noticed that I didn't do too good describing Jackson's back story, so, I'm going to release another story dedicated to that. I'll release it after I finish this one, so… That's all; I got nothing else to say, back to the story!

~0~0~0~

When Nathan arrived at the pond, he noticed someone sitting against a large crate. As he got closer, he could hear whoever it was crying.

"Hey? Um, you okay?" He called out.

"Lassen sie mich alleine." He was shocked to see Abby glaring at him, with tears running down her cheeks.

He stood for a moment trying to decipher what she just said, as she continued to sob. "What's the matter?" he asked as he sat down next to her.

"I just..." She choked as she wiped her face, "want to be good."

"But you are good." Nathan tried to comfort her.

"No, I'm not!" she shouted.

"You are the nicest person I know, how could you not be good?"

"Nice doesn't mean good."

"Why are you suddenly acting like this?"

"I-I'm scared..." she lifted her hair up, exposing a small metal plate at the base of her neck.

"What the heck is that thing?" Nathan poked it.

"I-I'm not _exactly_ human..."

"Whoa, are you a robot?!"

"Sort of- more like a cyborg, I guess. Remember when I said I have access to everyone's files?"

"Yeah."

"Well, not like computer files, I'm not allowed to say how, but I can sort of look at a person, and read their memories."

"W-whoa, that's- how?"

"I'm not allowed to tell anyone."

"Why not?"

"I d-don't know, I just can't. I can't say a lot of stuff, it's not that I don't want to, because I _really _want to tell someone, but I can't."

"Who did all this to you? Was it that good-for-nothing Medic, cuz if it was..."

"No! How could you even think that? My dad's done anything bad to me, ever."

"We are talking about the same person, right? The crazy guy with the gun that shoots needles, sawed off my legs once, kept our Spy's head in a refrigerator for a month before respawn saved him?"

"Yep. That's my dad."

"And you say he never did anything at all to hurt you?"

"Yep."

"Then who did?"

"I-it was..." Abby was fighting to say, "Ugh, why is it so hard for me to say her name?!"

"Who her?"

"Y-you know the lady who-" Abby froze for a moment.

"A-are you okay?!"

"Y-yeah, I just can't answer."

"How am I supposed to help then?"

"I don't think there's much you can do, even if you know."

"Is it the lady who yells at us while we fight?"

"Ugh- y-yes..." she managed to choke out.

"Are you hurt?" Nathan noticed her turning pale.

"N-no, I'm going to be okay. I can't feel pain."

"What?! Then- what?!"

"I can't feel anything. No pain. No warm. No cold. Nothing." She held up her hand and examined the small code, "I don't even need to breathe."

"But, you've got, like, skin and stuff!"

"She said that it would just interfere with my purpose."

"Which is?"

"To replace you guys."

Nathan stayed silent for a moment, "Okay, Abby, I need you to tell me everything that you can."

"Wh-what?"

"I am going to help you, but I need to know what I'm dealing with."

"Um, okay. Are you sure?"

"Yes." A serious look formed on his face.

"Okay, it all started when I was about ten years ago..."

~0~0~0~

"But daddeee!" the small child whined, "You can't go! I don't like these people!"

The aging man kissed her on the forehead, "I vill only be gone for a week, I'll be back before you know it. And don't worry, if anyone here tryies to do anything bad, I vill make sure they never see the light of another day."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

The young child watched her father's car pull out of the facility, and as soon as it was just out of eyesight a random pain suddenly spread through her body, leaving her unconcious.

When she woke up, she was in a room painted white, with only one visible window and no doors. A voice echoed through it. "Test 1. Sucess, oxygen levels now returning to normal."

The child tried to say something, but there wasn't enough air in the room yet.

"Test 2. Oh, oh! Test subject is awake! I repeat; test subject is awake!"

All of the lights suddenly shut off, and the child finds herself in a dark office.

"Hello, child." A voice hissed.

"I-I'm not afraid of you!" the child backed up, "M-my dad's going to kick your butts when he gets back!"

"No he's not," a woman with a Grinch-like grin appeared, "No one will ever save you."

"N-no! S-someone will save me!"

"Ah, poor child, thinking that someone cares about you." She approached her, faking innocence.

"No! Dad cares!"

"Nobody, I repeat, nobody cares about you. Everybody will let you down." She was closing in on her.

"Y-you're wrong!"

"Am I?" she grinned wickedly as the child broke down in tears, "Now that I've broken you, it's time to start building."

~0~0~0~

"Woah, what happened next?"

"I spent the rest of the week training, being experimented on, and being told I was worthless. Then when my dad got back..."

"What did he do?"

"Well, he kinda ended up blowing up the facility... Then was forced to work here." She looked down at her wrist, "Can you keep a secret?"

"Yeah?"

"Like, from everyone, no matter what?"

"Yeah..."

"Okay..." she began to take off her shirt.

"Woah! Woah, what the heck are you doing?!" throwing his hands over his eyes, "Decency, please!"

"I've got a bra on..." after her shirt was off, she turned around, exposing the little metal plate. A light flickered on it and metal began to creep down her spine and arms, and two large cuffs forming on her wrists. Small lights dotted the metal, red on one side, blue on the other, and purple in the center.

"Holy-" Nathan took a step towards her, "That's-"

"Horrifying?" Abby tugged at a strand of hair, "An abomination of nature?"

"I was going say h- attractive." His cheeks growing redder by the second.

"I- uh..." Abby stammered, the metal retracting.

"Um, here's your shirt..." Nathan handed her the shirt and turned around as she put it back on.

"Remember, don't tell anyone, okay?"

"Does your dad know?" Nathan turned back around as soon as he was certain Abby was properly clothed.

"Yeah... Anyway, how are you going to help?"

"Maybe I could just pull it off?" he froze for a second, "The- um, metal thing."

Abby laughed a little, "This is a highly advanced piece of machinery, no one would be stupid enough to leave it like this. Anyway, it's okay if you can't help me."

"Abby, I will find a way to help you. I promise."

Abby grinned, "Now that I've told you my deepest-darkest secrets. You tell me yours."


	20. Maximus Fabula Numquam Memorandus

Yeah, not to fond of the previous chapter… Well, happy new month day :D. To celebrate, I'm going to give you more WWII adventures featuring Martin and Max! For the record, I had to stay up till 2 AM to research a bunch of WWII stuff, and I'm scarred for life! Curse you educational system, for not warning me about the horrors of history! Joking aside, I think this is going to be one of my favorite chapters to write. As always, enjoy it NOW! ENJOY IT I SAY! AHAHAHAHAHAH! :3

~0~0~0~

_"All new recruits, please report to the training grounds." A lady over an intercom chirped. Her voice echoing through the community hall where a gaggle of men were watching tv, playing poker, or eating._

_Everyone gathered in the training yard, waiting for the drill sergeant. Martin stood towards the back of the group, and was hoping nobody recognized his accent. France had been notorious for surrendering recently and he didn't want any trouble. He nearly peed himself when he felt a tap on his shoulder. _

_"Hey, you look sick, are you okay?" a tall man with dark hair and stunning green eyes whispered. _

_"Yes, I am fine." Martin answered coolly._

_"You sure?" _

_"Certain." Martin glared at him when he didn't go away._

_"So… I'm Nathan Maxwell Alcott, but you can just call me Max." He held out his hand, "What's your name?"_

_Martin hesitatively shook his hand, "Martin Delacroix."_

_"Hey, we're in the same bunk! Oh, here he comes!" Max stood up straight, lined up with the other men._

_A large man walked in front of the group, and began calling out names. When their name was called, each soldier responded with "Sir, yes sir." Martin thought that was silly and just responded with "Here."_

_The look of pure horror on the other soldiers' faces was priceless as the Sergeant stomped over to Martin. After humiliating him in front of the rest of the troops, the training began. And, needless to say, it was horrible. Every single one of the recruits had been humiliated in one form or another, and everyone was exhausted. _

_In the bunk, everyone had collapsed into their beds, except Max, who was busy writing something. At about 3 A.M. he tapped on Martin's shoulder, "What do you want?"_

_"You know how the Sergeant embarrassed everyone today?"_

_"Yes…"_

_A mischievous smile formed, "I had an idea…"_

_"Oh no…"_

_"Oh, yes! And I'll need your help."_

_"Are you sure about this?" Martin asked nervously, "What if we're caught?"_

_"It's okay; I heard that even the general doesn't like him." Max shrugged, "It'll do him some good to be knocked off his high horse. Now, he'll be arriving in this MASH unit at 13 hundred hours…" Max had a map of their base marked with red marker, "Your job is to distract him when he walks in, which will leave me with enough time to set everything up."_

_"What exactly are you going to do?" Martin raised an eyebrow._

_"Let's just say, the Sergeant is in for an egg-cellent surprise."_

_~0~0~0~_

_Martin was stationed were Max told him to be, and waited for the Sergeant to come in. He noticed Max walking in and out of an exam room with several boxes. The door creaked open and the Sergeant stomped in and made his way to the receptionist. _

_Martin ran over to him, "Um, Sgt. I have a question about-" Martin ran a list of questions by the Sergeant, and when he heard the signal from Max, he scurried over to a couch were Max was hiding._

_"So, you're certain he'll be going into that room?" Martin whispered._

_"Yes, oh look! There he goes!" Martin silently screamed in excitement then suddenly paled, "Is that the General?!"_

_The General had walked in, and followed the Sergeant through the hallway towards the room._

_"Sir!" Martin and Max ran up to him and stopped him before he was able to go into the room, and pulled him away from the door. A small explosion was heard, followed by a scream._

_Everyone in the unit looked up to see the Sergeant covered in eggs, rubber gloves blown up like balloons, corn, and a sticky tar-like substance. Laughter roared, and even the General was cracking up. The Sergeant however, easily figured out the culprits and picked them both up by their collars._

_"You think this is funny?!" he barked, his face was bright red, and everything grew silent._

_The head doctor rushed in yelling; "Who made this mess?!"_

_They were rescued from almost certain death by the General, who let them off the hook, as long as they would clean up the mess and every bathroom in the base for the next month. They were also banned from the MASH unit, as a last resort to calm the doctor down._

_~0~0~0~_

_"It's your fault we're stuck in here." Martin grumbled as he scrubbed a toilet._

_"Hey, you helped." Max laughed as he mopped the floors, "Besides, it was worth it just to see his face."_

_"Now he's going to torture us for the rest of training."_

_"Still worth it." Max grinned._

_Martin raised an eyebrow, "You're a strange one, aren't you, Max?"_

_"Eh, sanity gets boring after a while." Max shrugged his shoulders, "By the way, the General was impressed by my prank, and now I get to learn how to make bombs and guns and stuff."_

_"The General is as crazy as you if he's giving _you_ that job."_

_"I'm not going to question it," Max grinned, "because now I don't have to work with Sergeant Sourpuss anymore."_

_"You're kidding…"_

_"Nope! Now I get to spend my days making weapons, and not dying on the battlefield! Isn't that great?" Max teased._

_"I hate you so much right now." Martin growled, "Now I've got to face him alone!"_

_"Don't worry, you were just the distraction." Max patted him on the back, "Besides, you've only got a few more weeks with him, and then you get to start working for real!"_

_"Right, sneaking into enemy territory, risking my life, while you play with explosives, sounds great."_

_"Hey," Max scowled, "I'll be working with dangerous materials, creating weapons designed to keep you guys alive, not to mention a target for enemies, while you're off hidden in an air duct somewhere."_

_"At least I'm not ugly."_

_"At least I'm not an idiot."_

_" I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship, Captain _Connard_."_

_"Right back at'cha, Senor Stupid!"_


	21. The Beginning of the End

It's extremely fun writing Max and Martin, I don't know why, but it is. Now we move on to Mackenzie, ugh when she's around the whole thing is like a soap opera. Imagine it: "Will Mackenzie get together with Scott, or will her pride stand in the way? Tune in next week for the stunning conclusion of All My Mercenaries." Welcome to the beginning of the beginning of the Climax! This is the last chapter (Including this one) till the carnage, I mean fun! I'm super-excited, and cannot wait! It's going to be so awesome! As always; review, enjoy and eat a hundred or so magic waffles.

~0~0~0~

Mackenzie sat in the common room picking the eraser off of a pencil. Viktor sat next to her reading a book. Then the BLU Medic came in and started berating him about his previous performance on the battlefield.

"Do not worry, Doktor. Tomorrow I do better." Viktor responding calmly.

"You'd better." The fuming medic grunted as he stormed off.

"Why do you put up with him?" Mackenzie asked Viktor as soon as the Medic was out of sight.

"Who?"

"The Medic; and the Spy for that matter. They're always yelling at you or insulting you. Why don't you insult them back, or something? You're always polite and garbage, even if they're at their worst!"

"Because I do not wish to stoop to their level. Even if they are big jerks, it gives me no right to be big jerk myself. My mother used to say; 'An eye for an eye, and all eyepatches would disappear.' And even biggest jerks, even leetle Spy and Doktor, deserve to be treated with respect. If they want to act like small children so be it, but I refuse to be part of it." He sighed, as he stood up, "Plus, someday they will realize what they did wrong and apologize, there is good somewhere in them, I'm sure of it. Goodnight friend, tomorrow we fight." With that, he walked down the hall towards his room, turning the lights off as he walked.

~0~0~0~

Mackenzie sat in her nest, contemplating Viktor's words from the night before, but was brought back to reality by footsteps approaching her, she knew it was _him_. "Look Scott…" she said without turning around, "I just need some space right now…"

"Fine, I get it. I just want to apologize." Mackenzie turned around, Scott rubbed the back of his neck, "I know it was a little too soon to say that, but when I see you, I just loose all my brain, and can't think straight. And when I'm away from you, I can't stop worrying about how the respawn might fail, or if someone will murder you in your sleep or something. I know that doesn't justify what I said. But I just want you to know that I think we're meant to be together, and all that corny stuff, so please don't hate me." Scott braced himself for the inevitable berating, but was surprised to find himself being hugged by Mackenzie.

"I'm sorry, for being a jerk to you earlier." Mackenzie whispered to him, "That was uncalled for."

"Don't be…" he was interrupted by Mackenzie's lips touching his. They held this position for a moment before a gasp was heard.


	22. Explosion

Welcome to the Climax! Prepare yourself for at least 4 character deaths, several forms of torture, bad $$ery from out of nowhere, a couple tear jerkers, and several 'what the heck!?' moments, and it's all starting now! I've been planning this for about a month and promise to do my absolute best to make it awesome. It'll be long, for the record, but worth it! However this chapter just serves as an opening so... Let's do this! As always; genießen und bewerten!

~0~0~0~

"What the bloody h*** are you doing, lassie?!" the BLU Demoman, "No, I'll tell ya! Yer sleeping with the enemy!"

"N-no, it's not like that!" Scott's ears turned red.

Mackenzie elbowed him and calmly tried to explain the situation to Demo, but Scott interrupted, "Do you hear that?" there was a very quiet beeping which started to get louder. In an instant, Scott grabbed Mackenzie, and threw her out the window a nanosecond before a loud explosion silenced the battlefield. Debris flew everywhere; shattered glass soared through the sky, pieces of rubble scattered around, and an eyepatch landed at Mackenzie's feet, who was just a couple inches away from the blast radius. Everyone swarmed the scene, sifting through the wreckage. They found Demo, well, most of him, and everyone just pitied Mackenzie as she obsessively tried to find Scott.

Then Abby ran over to Mackenzie, "What happened?!"

"There was beeping and-" Mackenzie noticed some blood spreading out from underneath a large piece of debris, which probably weighed at least two tons, "Someone help me with this!" several people rushed over and tried to help, but were unable to even budge it.

"Move out of the way!" Abby ordered them, "You're just making it worse." Then as everyone stood back, she walked over to it and lifted it carefully off him by herself, revealing Scott missing his right arm, both legs and covered in blood, but was still breathing.

"As you may have noticed," a voice hissed over the intercom, "The respawn system has been decommissioned as per standard protocol, and you all have 48 hours to live. This is what happens when you go against your contracts. Goodbye."


	23. Villains

So, did you enjoy the "What the heck?" opening? Now for the return of Captain Exposition! :D I'm estimating that there are about 10 chapters in the Climax plus a long epilogue, which I just planned out. I hope you guys are enjoying this as much as I am! As always: Live long, prosper, review and enjoy!

P.S. if its written in _italics _it's the villains, but if its written normally it's the good guys.

~0~0~0~

_"Miss Pauling, it appears as if our mercenaries aren't as stupid as I hoped." The Administrator hissed looking over the tape of the meeting._

_"W-what should we do ma'am?" _

_"I think it's time to try something new…" she grinned holding up a file labeled 'MvM', "Miss Pauling, bring me the phone, I've got a few 'friends' to call in…"_

~0~0~0~

_"There'd better be a good reason you dragged us all out here, Helen…" and elderly man in blue groaned._

_"Don't worry Blutarch, this time I've got a plan…" she smiled coolly, "You remember mine and Gray's side project don't you?"_

_A murmur of yes's filled the room._

_"Good, as you may have heard, our mercenaries have gained a few brain cells somehow, and I think this will be the perfect opportunity to test this project out."_

_"What about the girl?" a man identical to Blutarch, only wearing red, asked._

_"Easy, if she survives, we just wipe her memory and use her in a new plan, Redmond."_

_"_New_ plan?" Redmond raised an eyebrow._

_"Have you ever wanted for the world to do whatever you wanted it to do?"_

_"Who hasn't?"_

_"Well, we're only one step away from just that, all we need is one last component."_

~0~0~0~

Both teams gathered in the RED Team base, trying to figure out what to do. The only ones who weren't in the group were both medics, Abby, Mackenzie and Scott, who were in the infirmary.

"I just don't know how anyone could do something like this…" Mackenzie said solemnly to Abby.

"Don't worry, Scott will be okay." Abby patted her shoulder.

"No he won't, none of us will, you heard her. Only 48 hours till we…" she slid her finger across her neck, "We don't even know how they'll do it."

"Actually…" Abby tugged at a strand of hair, "I sort of know how-"

"How?"

"Um, you'll think I'm crazy, but-"

"Tell me."

"They'll probably kill us with robots."

"What?"

"You see, originally it was going to be an army of 'modified humans', like me and Nathan, but then my dad sort of destroyed the facility, so they turned to robots, but they still need-" Abby froze, "Where are the engineers?"

"Um in there-" she pointed down the hall and Abby took off.

"Where is the smaller female going?" A voice boomed.

"To see the engineers I guess." Abby looked up to see the RED Soldier, "Something about robots- Wait what do you mean by 'smaller'?"

"Nothing, how is the scout?" he quickly changed the subject.

"Other than missing his legs and an arm and being in the care of two psychos who have been screaming at each other since we got here and certain death two days away?" Mackenzie asked sarcastically.

"Yes." He responded, dead serious.

"Just fine." Mackenzie growled as he sat down in Abby's chair.

The two sat and listened to the two medic's yelling profanity at each other in German for a little bit, then Soldier suddenly said, "I used to have a younger sister who looked almost exactly like you."

"Used to?" Mackenzie asked, unsure what to make of the situation.

"She passed away about 30 years ago," he lowered his helmet even further down his face, "my family and I were visiting some relatives in Belgium just as _they_ invaded. My mom sent us into the woods to get away, we made it about halfway through before she was gunned down right in front of me…"

Mackenzie noticed a tear role down his nose and onto the floor, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be…" he sighed.

The BLU medic poked his head out of the room, "We are done."

~0~0~0~

As soon as she was allowed inside, Mackenzie shooed the two medics out and began scolding Scott for almost dying, to which he could only reply, "You know, you're really cute when you're yelling."

"You are the most annoying, irritating, and stupid person I know!" Mackenzie said ad she wrapped her arms around him, "Don't ever scare me like that again!"

The door flew open and Nathan was standing there, "Sorry to interrupt your love-fest, but we've got a problem."

~0~0~0~

_"Mr. Collins, you are trying my patience…" Helen hissed into the RED Engineer's ear, "Now do what we say, and you'll go free."_

_"Lady, I don't care what you do, but I'm not going to do anything you say." He smiled at her defiantly._

_"Don't you want to live?"_

_"While the rest of my team is killed, no thank you."_

_"Mr. Hale!" Helen called over a radio, "Your turn."_

_A large, burly man with no shirt waltzed into the room, "Thank you, Helen." He smiled politely, "And if he doesn't cooperate?"_

_"Dispose of him." She waved her hand as she left the room._

_"Now, little man, let's have some fun!"_

~0~0~0~

"How could someone just disappear?!" Jackson barked at the BLU Engineer, "You were in here the whole time and didn't see anything! How is that possible?!"

"I told you already, I just turned around for a second, and he was gone." The BLU Engineer stated calmly, fighting every urge to punch the marksman in the jaw.

"We should not argue like small children and go find him." Viktor said, trying to defuse the situation.

"We won't be able to find him, they're probably torturing him as we speak." Abby sighed.

"How do you know?" the sniper and engineer asked in unison.

"I know _them_, they're ruthless psychopaths, but they're not stupid." Abby explained, "We won't have enough time to find him before they attack. The best thing to do is to take them down as soon as possible."

"We're here." Mackenzie said as she and Nathan burst into the room.

When everyone (except Scott, who was unable to move) had gathered to discuss what to do, the whole room began to fill with yelling and fighting, Abby and Mackenzie were smart enough to wait outside when the fistfights started.

"I can't believe they're fighting." Mackenzie sighed, but then something hit her, "Hey, wait, what about my uncle?"

"Um-" Abby _really_ didn't want to explain to Mackenzie what had happened, but she had too, "Well, you know how they told you that he was in a hospital-"

"Abby," Mackenzie interrupted, "Tell me what happened, don't sugarcoat it."

"Fine, he's dead. He got to close, so they killed him."

There was an obvious shift in Mackenzie's demeanor as she walked back into the room, "EVERYONE SHUT UP RIGHT NOW!" she barked at the bickering men, freezing them in their tracks "I'm going to get us out of this, but you're all going to listen to me!"

"Why should we listen to you?" the BLU Spy scoffed.

"Would you like to die at the hands of a group of psychopaths?" Mackenzie glared at him, "Now you've got that magic cloaking thing, so you and Martin go find out what they're planning, everyone else get as many weapons and tools as you can find, and Abby tell me everything you can about our bosses. Any questions?" Mackenzie glanced around the room, "Good. Get moving!"

~0~0~0~

_"Are you going to obey?" Saxton asked the brutally beaten Engineer._

_"Nope." He smiled cheerfully, "Figure it out on your own."_

_"I think I'll do just that." He said, preparing to finish him off, "Any last words." _

_"Yes, say your prayers." The engineer said, still maintaining his smile, even managing to laugh, "Y'all are going to be in for a world of hurt. Also, put a shirt on, moron." He laughed as he held up his middle finger, successfully enraging the burly Australian._


	24. The Plan

Okay, I loved writing the ending of the last chapter. Nothing like laughing in the face of death to secure a character's awesomeness. This is the last chapter till CRAZY AWESOME CARNAGE FUN TIME! Heads up, a grand total of 10 characters, good and bad, counting those already gone, will be dead by the end. As always; enjoy and dance terribly!

~0~0~0~

Mackenzie spread a map across a table in the center of the room. Everyone surrounded it, including Scott, who was strapped to a wheelchair.

"Okay, so apparently they're going to test an air fleet here, but someone will need to destroy this communications tower and take out the Nucleus. The Nucleus power cell powers all of the robots and the Mann brothers' immortality machines. Also someone will need to take care of this Saxton Hale guy before we all meet in the Mann Co. HQ and take out the 'reserve army'. So we need to split into four groups." Mackenzie glanced around the room, "Both Soldiers, Engineer, Demo, and I will take out the planes. Engie, can you hotwire a jet?"

"Does the sun rise?" He grinned.

"Good, both Pyros, Viktor and annoying Spy take out the tower, angry Medic watch their backs."

"Mmph-y!" The BLU Pyro gave her a thumbs up.

"Who wants to take out Saxton Hale?"

"I will." Jackson hid a grin.

Martin noticed this, "I'll go with him."

"Everyone else destroy the nucleus. Any questions?"

"Yeah; what about me?" Scott smiled at her.

"You just come with us." Mackenzie said, picking up her gun, "Any other questions? No? Everyone get ready. Tonight we fight back."

~0~0~0~

Abby was standing next to Nathan as he loaded his gun, and packed a small bag, "So, this is it I guess…"

"Yep."

"You nervous?"

"Sort of, more excited." He noticed Abby's lack of weapons, "How are you going to fight?"

"Um-" Abby held up her arm and pointed to her wrist.

"Oh, right."

Abby started staring at the ceiling, "I've never been anywhere but Teufort or Mann Co. it'll be weird leaving."

"Really?" Nathan looked over to her, "Nowhere else?"

"Nope." Abby sighed, "Hey, if we survive, could you show me around Boston?"

"Sure, I don't see why not."

"Promise?"

"Promise."


	25. Heavy Artillery

Welcome to awesome robot smash-y fun time! Let's start with the communications tower/Saxton Hale part one, shall we? Each group has two parts, will share chapters, and will all tie together in the end; which will be EPIC! I just played a few rounds of MvM before I wrote this, so I'm ready for this! As always; don't spam the medic button, review and enjoy!

~0~0~0~

The group made their way through the dimly lit corridors, Spy scouted ahead while the others cautiously followed him.

"All clear on zhis end." Spy called from the end of the hall, _This is stupid, why am I helping these heathens? I could just cloak and get away._

"Control room is ahead," Viktor called back, "Watch out for robots!"

As soon as he said that a group of five or so robots that looked eerily similar to the two scouts marched in wielding bats. They were easy to defeat, but still frightening.

"Vht dur hhrk wzz dt?!" the BLU Pyro shouted as soon as they finished.

"I do not know, but I think we should continue." Viktor responded, somehow understanding him.

The group snuck into the control room where at least twenty robots were watching monitors.

"_We need to ztay quiet, any ideas?_" The medic whispered.

"_We could take out stronger ones._" Viktor whispered back.

"_Ve have no way to know which one is stronger, eediot._" The Spy hissed.

"_Mia, dctr, hhvy nnd my cdd ccrt dstrctn nnd uu cdd tkk uut da cntrls!_" The RED Pyro whispered.

"_It is good plan, but who is Mia?_" Viktor whispered.

"_Mmi mm!_" the BLU Pyro waved as RED Pyro pointed to her.

"_Good to know, are you ready?_" Spy whispered.

They simultaneously nodded as the Spy cloaked. Heavy made a loud noise as he began shooting the horde of robots, the two pyros began setting fire to random robots and computers, and the medic started shooting one larger robot with an extra pistol he found, unknowing that a one robot was sneaking up on him, gun at the ready.

"DOKTOR!" Viktor bellowed as he met the bullet halfway between it and the medic. Everything went silent as the medic stared down at Viktor.

~0~0~0~

"You seem quiet…" Martin said in a hushed tone as he and Jackson made their way to the factory Saxton Hale was guarding.

"So?"

"You forget that you told me about your childhood adventures with Monsieur Hale." Spy rolled his eyes at the younger mans behavior, "What are you going to do when we get there?"

Jackson just grunted.

"Just know that whatever you do, don't stoop to his level." He placed a hand on his shoulder.

"It'll be impossible to go _that_ low." Jackson hissed, rolling his shoulder so Martin's hand fell off, who just sighed and shook his head.

The pair continued walking until the factory was in sight, then snuck through a back door. When they came to a crossroads they decided to split up and call the other one if they found something.

Jackson walked through the darker hallway, kukri at the ready; excited to plunge it into the flesh of the worst society had to offer. Instead of finding him, however, he found a large machine building robots. He looked around making sure the cost was clear before making his way over to it. Luckily it had a lever marked 'OFF', so all he had to do was pull it, right? Nope, instead he had to enter a code and iris scanner to even operate it. So instead he opted to just shoot the control panel, successfully turning it off.

He resumed the search of the building only to hear a shout from the other side, "I SEE YA, COWARD!" and a loud crash. He ran through the darkness to be greeted by Saxton Hale punching Martin in the face. Jackson readied his gun and fired, but the bullet missed by barely a centimeter, and only served to give his position away.

"Oh, look, another neck to wring!" The burly man laughed, tossing Martin to the side, "I was done with this one anyway." He began to stomp towards Jackson, but froze, "You… I know your ugly face from somewhere…"

"You'd better remember…" Jackson hissed as he removed his sunglasses. Rage bubbling in his stomach as Saxton let out a hearty guffaw.

"I can't believe it! I thought you were eaten by dingoes or something!" he laughed even harder, but noticed Jackson glaring at him, "Ah, I see, you want to avenge those worthless savages, don't you?"

"They weren't worthless!" Jackson barked at him.

"Whatever." Saxton simply rolled his eyes, "Do you really think you can beat me? I mean, look at you!"

"You've got two seconds to take that back!" Jackson exclaimed bitterly, unsheathing his kukri.

"Still got that disrespectful tongue, don't cha? Fine, I'll kill you quickly. You're just as worthless as they were."


	26. Dogfight

Guess who fell of a roof yesterday? :D I'm okay, no broken bones, just extreme road-rash, or roof-rash… I'll be fine in a couple of days, so don't worry. I just thought I'd share. Now it's time to destroy a fleet of airplanes! As always; be extremely careful when you're on a roof, review, and enjoy!

P.S. I'm not sure exactly if you can hotwire a plane, but if you can think of a better word for it, I'm all ears.

P.S. X2 I know Skittles weren't around in this time, but the Rule of Funny says I can do whatever I want, as long as it's funny. (Also I don't own Skittles)

P.S. X3 This is my absolute favorite chapter, no questions.

~0~0~0~

The small group made their way to the runway, sneaking past several robots working on planes. They noticed a larger plane off to the side which was already finished, so no robots were near it. They snuck inside it and prepared some guns on board while the engineer started to hotwire it.

"How exactly are we supposed to destroy roughly three hundred planes by ourselves?" Scott asked Mackenzie as she strapped him to a chair, "I'm not the best at math, but isn't it kind of psychotic?"

"We'll figure it out." She shrugged.

"See, psychotic!" Scott pointed out, then pointed to BLU Soldier and the Demoman who were drinking bottle after bottle of moonshine, "Not to mention those two, what sane person would give a gun to them?"

"Drunk people are immune to pain, consider them our secret weapon."

"I can! I can taste the rainbow!" the Soldier slurred, "Tavish you were right!"

"I told ye, lad! Ain't it wonderful?" Tavish waved a drunken arm through the air, "Now let's blow up some robots!"

"I give up," Scott sighed, "Obviously sanity and logic have no place here."

"Glad yer getting into the spirit of things!" The engineer called from the cockpit, "I'm ready when y'all are!"

"Good, everyone into position!" Mackenzie called out, while loading a large gun, "and Scott, you just sit there I guess."

"Sorry, Scott isn't here, I'm Princess Psychoton the third." Scott waved his arm sarcastically.

"Nice to meet you yer highness." Tavish drunkenly hiccupped.

"Cut the comedy! They're about to take off!" the RED Soldier barked from the frontmost of the four turrets as the sound of propellers echoed through the runway. The two drunks and Mackenzie hurried into the other turrets.

"Everyone ready?" The engineer called.

"Yeah!"

"Yep."

"I don't really have a choice do I?"

"NO!"

"Okay, let's go." He said as he started up the plane, then noticed a couple of robots behind them, "Hope you don't mind us borrowing this!" he taunted them as the plane took off.

"Okay, fire on my signal!" The soldier ordered the others. He paused for a moment as their plane creeped up on the fleet, "Three…" everyone tensed, "Two…" they strengthened their grips on the controls, "NOW!"

Bullets fired, planes exploded, fire painted the sky and scraps of metal rained down. Their plane dive-bombed others as the four turrets busily took out others. Strangely enough, taking out the fleet was easy. As soon as their bullets and bombs ran out, they had taken out the entire fleet.

"Is that it?" Scott asked, looking out a nearby window, "Is that _seriously_ it?!"

"We won?" The BLU soldier slurred.

Silence rang for a moment as everyone climbed out of the turrets, then the engineer gasped, "Don't celebrate yet, boys…"

Behind them was a giant plane with at least a hundred guns attached to it, five huge turrets on each wing, a huge bomb bay, and somehow the thing was still able to stay airborne.

"Mother of…" the RED Soldier raised his helmet to get a better look at it.

"How is that even… WHAT?!" Scott slapped his hand over his forehead.

"Enjoy my little toy?" A giddy voice hissed over the radio, "I hope so, because it'll be the last thing you see. And don't worry, it'll be quick."

"How in the Sam heck can that thing fly?!" The engineer looked over his shoulder to get a better view.

"A little something I call anti-gravity, Mr. Conagher. Your design, I believe…"

"You son of a-"

"BOMB!" Someone in the back cut him off as a large metal object whizzed by their small plane as the engineer pulled to the left, but crossed paths with a turret and bullets pierced the side of the plane, hitting Mackenzie in the shoulder.

The Demoman gained a degree of sober-ness and ran to her aid, "Ye okay, lass?" he asked, helping her to a seat.

"Y-yeah," Mackenzie grasped her bleeding arm, "What do we do now?"

Silence filled the air, but was quickly broken by a noise on the radio, "Absolutely nothing!" it cheerfully chirped, "Even if you avoid our attacks, you'll run out of gas in five minutes."

"How do _you_ know?" the RED soldier hissed.

"We planned every moment of this day, and guess what? You aren't even the target, in three hours we'll attack Washington D.C. after that, we fly to England, then the rest of Europe, eventually the whole world… And you know the best part?" the voice teased them, "No one can do a thing about it! This plane is virtually indestructible from the outside, never runs out of gas, and doesn't need anyone on board to control it! So while it's destroying the capitols of all the countries, we're safe and sound, watching it from Teufort."

"Yeah, but you made one mistake." The RED Soldier's lips curled upwards slightly.

"And what is that?" the voice sounded halfway concerned.

"You just threatened America in front of ME." He walked over to the bomb-bay, removing his helmet and coat, "Not to mention give away your weakness."

"Wait- what are you?!" the voice screeched, "You'd have to be a lunatic to even think-"

"If you haven't noticed, yet…" Scott called out, "This plane is full of insane people, he just got to it first."

Soldier tossed his helmet and coat to Mackenzie and Tavish, "Gentlemen, it has been an honor serving with you…" he saluted the group, and they saluted back, then crossed his arms over his chest, "Also, make sure the maggots who built this thing die for me…" he grabbed a couple of grenades then he let himself fall out of the plane, landing on the larger one's cockpit.

The glass shattered on impact, and soldier was greeted by an array of controls which soldier assumed were there for backup, he grabbed the steering wheel and made the plane plummet towards the ground. He then broke the controls with a pipe that he ripped off from behind him, and ran to the bomb-bay where a large assortment of bombs lay.

He took the two grenades in both hands, jumped out of the plane, and threw them into the bomb-bay. Everything was silent for a moment as soldier fell through the sky, then a loud boom was heard and the plane was consumed in a large fiery explosion. A wireless camera was hurled up to soldier somehow, and he grabbed it as he fell, and stuck his middle finger up as he got closer to the ground.

"He did it…" Tavish said, surprised, "He actually did it."

"I wonder if he's okay…" Mackenzie whispered.

"Nobody could've survived that…" Scott murmured, but noticed soldier approaching the ground at a dangerous speed, "HOLY COW! THERE HE IS!"

"We won't make it in time…" the BLU soldier sighed as he grew closer and closer to the ground.

"We need to land now…" engineer solemnly said, pulling the plane down, "Even if we do go back, we'd crash."

"There goes the craziest of us all…" Scott muttered under his breath, "The bravest too…"

Everyone removed their hats as soldier disappeared into the trees below.

~0~0~0~

Soldier plummeted towards the forest; he braced himself as branches clawed at his skin. Once he hit the ground, he was met with a warm sensation, almost pleasant. He opened his eyes to see the outstretched hand of a young woman.

"You did well," she was beautiful and serene, and her voice was sweet, "C'mon, mom and dad are waiting for us."

"W-what?" he grunted, as she helped pull him up, he looked down to see himself lying on the ground, "Oh…"

"Let's go." She smiled tenderly as she walked toward a blinding light, "Don't worry, your team won't fail."

"You sure about that?" he asked skeptically.

"I'm positive, brother." she tugged at his hand, "Let's go home…"


	27. The Nucleus

So… I kinda cried when writing the last chapter. I absolutely loved writing it! Sorry about any feels or anything, but there are more to come. (I'm pretty sure I can't top that but I'll try…) Only three chapters until what I'm calling the final stand for now. It's going to get pretty dang crazy (As if it already isn't) and I'm planning something AWESOME for the final stand. Thanks to for all the help in writing this. As always; TASTE THE RAINBOW! and enjoy!

~0~0~0~

The four snuck through the technologically advanced palace known simply as 'Nucleus'.

"So exactly how are we going to shut this place down?" Nathan whispered to Abby.

"Probably blow it up," Abby shrugged, "Everything always leads to an explosion."

"Good point…"

"What the heck is that?" Abby pointed to a room labeled 'Failed Clones', "Come on." She pulled Nathan over to it.

"Wait!" Heavy called as he scurried over to them, "Where are you going?"

"In here." Abby said as she turned the door knob, which was unlocked for some reason, "Nice of them to leave this open…"

"We should really just do what we came here to do…" Nathan tried to steer her away from the dark room.

"Where's your sense of adventure?" Abby groaned, "There might be something really cool in there!"

"Or a trap."

"We'll figure it out." Abby shrugged, "If you weenies want to wait out here; fine, but I'm going in."

"Fine, but if you die it's your fault." Nathan huffed as Abby walked into the dark room.

"Not dead yet," Abby taunted as she felt her way inside, "See noth-" she froze, then ran outside.

"What was inside?" Heavy asked as she proceeded to spill her guts out onto the floor.

"I'm never goin-" she puked again, "to tell."

"Where did you go?" Dominik called from down the hall, everyone had briefly forgotten why they were there.

"Coming!" Heavy called back, helping Abby up while she was recovering from whatever it was she saw.

As the two walked down the hall, Nathan peeked into the room, extremely curious as to what caused a response like that. Inside was almost pitch black, except for several glowing green tubes with humanoid figures in them. He approached the one nearest to the door and looked into it. The figure looked exactly like Abby only its arms were atrophied away to almost nothing.

He walked down the row of about four tubes. Each of the 'Abby's' had a different form of mutation. The worst by far was one in the middle whose whole body was twisted in a way to where it was impossible to tell which end was which. Nathan took a second to let everything sink in before rejoining his group, nearly slipping on the vomit on his way out.

~0~0~0~

In the heart of the Nucleus, two bridges led to a platform holding a small glowing orb suspended in mid-air.

"Okay, how do we destroy this thing?" Abby asked her father who was looking over some monitors.

"I have no idea." He answered after thoroughly examining the computers.

"Ah, it seems as if my friends have arrived." A voice chimed over an intercom system, "Let me introduce myself, I am Redmond Mann, I'm pretty sure most of you know me. Anyway, to answer your question, there is no way to destroy this system without dying."

"Show yourself!" Heavy bellowed.

"Sorry to disappoint my adoring public, but I'm afraid that I'm not here at the moment. None of us are, actually. We're safe and sound about twenty floors below you right now. And we've been watching you and your friends this whole time." Redmond laughed, "I can't believe how entertaining you turned out to be!"

"Quick question, strange voice coming from nowhere." Abby chirped.

"Ah, the little artificial girl, what is it?"

"Is this thing powering all of the robots and weapons and stuff?"

"Yes, actually…" he stopped himself from going into further detail.

"Good to know." Heavy shouted as he began shooting at it, but the bullets just bounced back at them, barely missing them.

Redmond began to crack up, "Wow, you really are stupid aren't you, Boris?"

"How do you know my name?" his face grew red.

"I'm your employer, idiot." He was mildly irritated, "In fact, I've got info about all of you! For instance, the small girl over there was originally going to be used in place of the robots, but after **someone** burned down our facility, we changed our minds. Besides, she was too stupid to be useful."

"Okay…" Abby shrugged her shoulders.

"Aren't you insulted? Furious? Going to try and destroy something in a fit of rage?"

"Why?"

"Because you're sick of being treated like a weapon your whole life, and want to get revenge on the people who turned you into this."

"Not really."

"Aren't you even the least bit mad?"

"Nope."

"B-but don't you want to get revenge? Just a little?"

"Not in the least."

"No rage-induced destruction?"

"No."

"No berserk violence?"

"Negative."

"No-"

"Look, I'm not a hundred percent sure why you're so obsessed with making me angry, but I'm not going to get mad at you, no matter what you say, do or think. I'm too stupid to fool."

"W-wait, what if I told you your father doesn't even care about you? Or that none of your friends think of you as a person. Or that everyone just thinks you're a psychotic moron?"

"You'd be lying."

"That you aren't supposed to exist?"

"So?"

"ARGH! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" he cried out in anguish, "YOU WHERE SUPPOSED TO GET ANGRY AND KILL YOUR TEAM!"

"Meh."

"THAT'S IT! I'M DONE! I'M SETTING THE CORE TO OVERLOAD! I'M LOWERING THE SHIELDS! SO WILL YOU JUST DIE ALREADY?!" A loud alarm sounded and the core began glowing red.

"How can we stop it?" Nathan noticed him growing more and more irrational, and decided to take advantage of it.

"The only way to stop it now would be for someone to absorb the energy with their body but-" a loud thud was heard, followed by arguing.

"Not very competent, are they?" Boris muttered.

"Good job distracting him like that." Nathan put a hand on her shoulder.

"I was supposed to be distracting him?" Abby suddenly looked concerned.

"That's my girl." Dominik walked over to them.

"Okay, now that you know how to destroy it, who's it going to be?" another voice evilly asked over the intercom, "Which one of you is willing to lay their life on the line just to save someone else's pathetic life?"

"Could we not just shoot it?"

"No! That would blow up half the state!" the voice sounded sincere, but they were unsure.

"I will do it." Boris stepped up.

"No, I'll do it!" Nathan began walking towards it.

"Wait, no um-" Abby grew pale, "We could maybe throw something on it, like one of those- _things_."

"No time, I'll do it." Boris pushed Nathan to the ground and approached the core.

Nathan sprung back up and started a fist fight with the bear-man causing whoever it was on the intercom to laugh uncontrollably. This was quickly silenced however, when two syringes flew through the air, knocking both of them unconscious.

"I'll do it, dummkopfs." He sighed.

"W-what?" Abby looked as if she was about to throw up again, "No y-you can't!"

"Abigail, listen to me," her pulled her into a hug, "I need you to be brave for me okay? Get zhese two idiots out of here, and find the others."

"B-but-" she sobbed into his chest.

"Promise me you'll get them out of here."

"I promise..."

"Wait what's going on down there?!" Several voices began bickering over the intercom as Dominik walked to the core, "You aren't seriously-?"

Dominik placed both hands onto the core and a shock filled his body. It took all of his willpower to stay standing. He glanced over to Abby and the two sleeping idiots and managed a smile. A bright flash filled the room.

"D-dad?" Abby called out, but he and the core had disappeared.

A series of curses echoed through the Nucleus before a calm female voice took over, "Unfortunate, but we can always build a new one. Ah, A-6180, you seem to have grown well. How are you doing?"

"Y-you…" Abby stood up with her fists trembling.

"Congratulations, by the way, you've destroyed our army, yet managed to do it probably the most pathetic way possible."

"Y-you… YOU B****!" Abby screeched as she punched the nearest wall, creating a huge dent.

Evil laughter echoed through the building, "Why don't you and your little friends come down here and see if that courage does you any good."

"Lady, it's not courage," Abby spat as metal creeped up her spine, "you and your idiot minion wanted to get me mad, well guess what?" she heaved Boris onto her back, "It's going to be the last mistake you'll _ever_ make."


	28. Cicada

Holy cow, the previous chapter was fun to write, specifically the last half. I just realized how brutally my characters die: Blown up, Tortured, Shot, Falling out of an Exploding Plane, and Vaporized. I'm a sadistic psycho; then again, all writers are to a certain degree. I also realized something funny; I can't bring myself to type a complete curse word, but can brutally maim my characters and make them flip each other off. Only two chapters (Counting this one) until the final stand! Heck, this thing'll probably be finished by the end of the week! As always; never forget your pants, and enjoy!

P.S. This chapter is going to be short and corny for the record. I was tired when writing it, so…

~0~0~0~

The BLU Medic stood over Viktor, frozen in a mixture of fear, confusion, sadness and anger. _Why had this man, whom he insulted on a daily basis, give his life to save him?_

Before he could think anymore, Mia ran up to him grabbed his arm and started to drag him across the room. They were followed by the Spy and RED Pyro. A wall of flame followed them as they ran through the hallways.

They burst through the front doors, barely avoiding the fiery explosion and shattered glass.

"Vhat just happened?" the medic rubbed his forehead.

"Mmi dnnt nnww." The Pyro shrugged.

"Is that eet?" Spy asked as he inspected the damage.

"Mmbee." Mia guessed.

"Where ees the 'Eavy?" Spy asked, noticing their team was short one member.

"He-" medic was still recovering from the experience.

"Hhh dnt mkk t." Mia looked down.

"Rrr uu srr?" Pyro placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Psitv."

They stood in silence for a moment, before the Pyro broke it, "Thss iz ll urr flt!" he pointed accusingly at the Spy and Medic, "Yuu wrr lwyz mnn tu hmm, Mmi sww yuu! Nww hz dd!"

"I can't understand you-" Spy began, but was cut off by Pyro removing his mask, revealing a fairly handsome face with a large burn scar down one side, and proceeding to yell at them.

"This is all your fault! You were always mean to him! I wasn't even on the same team and I could see it! Now he's dead, and it's all your fault!" he put emphasis on the last sentence before putting his mask back on, "Lts gu, I wnnt tuh gtt thz uver wth." He stormed off. Mia shot a glare (well you couldn't see her glare exactly but you could feel it) over her shoulder and followed him.

"Wow, that-" Spy and Medic stood, dumbfounded.

"He's right." Medic sighed.

"What?"

"We did treat him horribly, even though he was constantly kind to us."

The Spy was silent, gears spun in his head.

"We constantly ridiculed him, yet he somehow found enough compassion to save my worthless life."

The two made eye contact for a moment, and silently made an agreement to make sure nothing like this ever happened again. The feeling was uplifting in a way, it was as if an old soggy blanket had been pulled off their faces. They followed the two fuming pyros to the Headquarters, leaving their old selves behind, like a cicada that had just shed it's skin.


	29. Saxton Hale

Yeah, in a way I despise the previous chapter… Oh well, now for awesome. This is probably my second favorite chapter. Guess what? This is the last chapter until the final stand, which will last about two chapters, then there's the epilogue which is about 3 or 4 chapters, so I'm almost done! :'D As always; make sure your ant farm doesn't become self-aware, and enjoy!

~0~0~0~

The large man let out a battle cry and charged towards Jackson, who dodged it with relative ease. This shocked him, as no one had ever dodged an attack from him. Worse still, he kept dodging his attacks successfully without even throwing a punch himself.

"Aren't you going to fight like a man, coward?" he tried taunting him.

"The only coward I see around here is you." Jackson suppressed a grin as Saxton charged at him again, only to hit a wall, successfully breaking his left wrist.

"Whatever, I don't need two hands to kill you." He grunted, grasping his injury for a moment.

"You can try." A certain bitterness mixed with sarcasm rolled off his tongue.

Saxton continued to charge, punch, kick, etc. and Jackson continued dodging each attack perfectly, using the minimum amount of energy to do so. Once the giant was worn out, Jackson walked nonchalantly up to him and delivered a powerful punch to the face, knocking him back a couple of feet.

"What's the matter? Run out of steam?" Jackson taunted coldly, kicking him in the ribs.

"H-how-?" Saxton felt something he hadn't ever experienced; fear.

"I've been planning this for fourteen years." Blood-thirst showed through Jackson's eyes, "I know _everything_ about you; your weaknesses, your goals, your _fears_."

"I'm not afraid of anything," He struggled to his feet, holding his ribs, "obsessive freak."

"Y'know, after you're called a freak eight-hundred times, you kinda get used to it." He said calmly as he delivered a side kick to his already-broken ribs, causing him to double over again, once he was down, he pulled out his kukri, ready to deliver the final strike, "You have no idea how long I've waited for this…"

Just before he stabbed him, he noticed Martin leaning against a crate, just staring at them, and then he looked down at Saxton, and simply dropped the blade and turned around.

"Aren't you going to finish me off, coward?" Saxton called over to him as he started to walk away, "And you call yourself an Australian."

Jackson paused for a moment before turning around, "I've spent 14 years hating you, thinking of what to do when I finally come face-to-face with you. I've planned every detail, every moment, every breath. I thought that once you were dead, my life would suddenly be perfect. That all of my problems would suddenly disappear. That _you_ were the source of my problems. But now that I see you, actually _see _you, I realize you aren't worth it. There's nothing to you at all is there? You're just an overgrown bully with good publicity. You don't care about your company, or your country, all you care about is how you _look_. You're afraid that if you let yourself show weakness, show _mercy_, people won't like you, and without that, you're absolutely nothing. Without someone telling you that you're the best, you'd just wither away, lost in history. That's what you're afraid of the most, isn't it, big guy? Now that I see you, I can't believe how **stupid** I was. Even though I want to take all of my anger out on you, to see your brains spattered against that wall, because, frankly, the world would be better without you. I'm not going to kill you though; I'm not even going to watch you suffer. Because I'm not like you, I'm not some moron who solves all his problems with murder; I was, but not anymore. You aren't worth it. You may think you are, but you aren't. Come on, Martin, let's go."

As Jackson began to leave, Saxton Hale let out a roar and charged at him one last time, pinning him, face first, to a vat filled with a yellow glowing liquid, "You're going to regret that!" he cried out as his fist flew towards Jackson's face. At the last second, Jackson ducked down so that his fist punctured the vat. Everything froze for a moment before Saxton, realizing what he just did, grinned, "If I'm going down, you're going down with me." Jackson slipped out of his grip for a split second, but found himself in a headlock, his body was behind Saxton, but his face was completely exposed.

There was a large flash of light, followed by a deafening boom, and then everything went dark. Jackson's eyes began burning, and when he opened them there was nothing but black. His knees started to grow weak, and he almost fell into the molten liquid but Martin grabbed him before he could.

~0~0~0~

When Jackson regained consciousness the world was still dark, but he could feel a gentle breeze and sunlight.

"Are you okay?" He felt Martin's hand on his shoulder.

"I-I think so." A surge of panic rushed through him, and he stood up and began stumbling around, "W-where am I? What happened?"

"Calm down," Martin grabbed his shoulder, "Can you see?"

"N-no." his heart began beating faster and faster.

"Okay, we're going to find the others now, just stay close to me and everything will be alright."


	30. The End Part One

Okay, so over here we've got two recently crippled dudes, over here we've got a couple of drunk people, over here we've got a group of mercenaries with varying degrees of mental illness, and lastly over here we've got an extremely pissed off transhuman chick who hasn't displayed hardly any intent to kill yet and was also tortured for the majority of her life, and all of them have a personal reason to maim and/or slaughter the bad guys; Anyone wanna take bets on who ends up kicking the most butt? As always; don't eat the shrubbery, and enjoy.

~0~0~0~

Abby waited outside the Nucleus with the two unconscious mercenaries, keeping an eye out for the other groups. The first group to arrive was Mackenzie, Scott, Tavish, BLU Engineer, and BLU Soldier.

"Where's-" Abby noticed the missing member.

"He didn't make it." Mackenzie cut her off.

"At least he went out awesomely." Scott commented as he strapped himself into a wheelchair, he was met with glares which he ignored, then noticed the two sleeping in the dirt, "Why are those two unconscious?"

"Long story." Abby said simply, "Where are the others?"

"Ugh-" Nathan regained consciousness, "What'd I miss?"

"A lot." Abby stated bitterly, surprising everyone.

"Wrr hrr!" The RED Pyro called as he and Mia ran over to the group, quickly followed by the medic and spy.

"Okay, who tragically died this time?" Scott said looking over the group, receiving another round of glares, "Fine, I'll shut up."

"Who's that?" The Spy pointed to two people approaching them.

It turned out to be Jackson and Martin, covered in various cuts and bruises, and their clothes were tattered. Martin's mask had been torn off and was missing his coat and tie. Leaning against him was Jackson who was covered with blood, eyes blank and bloodshot, and had several burn marks on his arms and the back of his neck.

"Holy crap!" Scott exclaimed, "What the heck happened to you two?!"

"Not important," Martin said, "Let's just get this over with."

"Can you fight?" Soldier asked.

"Ye-" Jackson started, but began coughing.

"No, you're going to stay out here with Scott." Mackenzie ordered them, "The rest of you, follow me."

After Jackson was placed next to Scott's wheelchair, the group disappeared into the building, leaving the two handicapped men alone.

"So…" Scott awkwardly started, "I guess we're just supposed to wait out here?"

Jackson just grunted.

"This sucks, the action's in there! Why can't we help?"

"You're missing three limbs and I can't see anything."

"So?" Scott looked around then noticed some weapons that had been left behind next to the plane, "Hey…You're missing eyes, but have functioning legs, and I'm missing legs, but have eyes."

"Yeah?"

"I have an idea…"

~0~0~0~

Once the group reached the bottom of the Nucleus, they were greeted by an army of robots in a large, blindingly white room. The door shut behind them and a voice chirped over an intercom; "Congratulations! Somehow you've managed to defeat my acquaintances, but unfortunately, your victory won't last. As you may have noticed, these robots each have their own power source. Also, to make things interesting; if you can destroy these, you can go free, when you don't, you'll be used to test our backup plan. Have fun!" With that the robots eyes glowed an eerie white and powered up.

"You guys destroy these things, I'm going after _her_." Abby ordered them as she bulldozed her way through the legion of evil.

The group began randomly attacking anything metallic. Soldier and Tavish tapped into their drunken superpowers and began taking out robot after robot. Mackenzie and Martin, even with injuries, were able to destroy a good portion of the army. But for every robot that was destroyed, another two seemed to pop up in its place.

~0~0~0~

"Now attach this on the side…" Scott instructed Jackson, "Perfect!"

"Are you sure this will work?"

"Positive." He said looking over the creation, "This is going to be so awesome."

~0~0~0~

Abby punched down the metal door leading to the control room. Inside the Administrator was waiting for her.

"Ah, my moronic little friend." She stood up, "How have you been doing?"

"Don't pull your crap with me." Abby spat.

"What crap? I'm merely asking you a question." She snaked her way over to Abby, "My, my, you really have grown up; maybe you aren't useless after all!"

Abby delivered a side kick to the Administrator once she was close enough, sending her crashing into a wall, "Tell me; what made you think I was useless in the first place?"

The Administrator stood up, trying to maintain her dignity, "Still as stupid as ever." She clapped her hands and a metal box fell on top of them and a gas was pumped in, "Now we're both going to die."

"No, only you will." Abby lifted her by the throat, "I don't have to breathe; your idea I believe."

"W-what?!" her eyes began burning.

"You may think you're better than everyone else, but you've made three _fatal_ mistakes. First you let those morons control this army. Second, you made the mistake of hurting my friends and dad. Third, you gave the girl you've tortured a gun in her arm." She pointed a gun mounted on her wrist at the Administrator's head, "I dare you to call me stupid one more time."

"B-but I programmed you! You were supposed to be stupid!"

"Stupidity is relative, and compared to you, I'm Einstein." The gas was filling the box, "Now would you rather be killed slowly and painfully by the gas, or even more slowly and painfully by me?"

"You don't have the courage." The Administrator gasped, "You won't kill me."

"Option two it is." Abby smiled as she broke one of the Administrators arms backwards.

~0~0~0~

Outside the group was managing to hold off the robots, but was quickly running out of ammunition. There were just too many of them. Soon they were all corralled in the center of the room at the mercy of the soulless legion.

"I guess this is it." The BLU Soldier said, sobering up.

"Yep." Mackenzie sighed, "It's been crazy knowing you guys."

"Anyone else hear ticking?" Nathan asked.


	31. The End Part Two

The last chapter before the epilogue! By the way, sorry for killing off Viktor… (I got a couple of PMs and a review saying 'How could you?! He was the best character!') The reason? I'm evil. Anyway, now the REAL fun begins! I've got a lot planned for these final chapters, and hopefully they'll all be awesome! As always; Make sure your ant farm doesn't become self aware, and enjoy!

P.S. Remember what I said about the other chapters being my favorite? Well, I lied. This is my favorite, purely because of the opening, the rest is pretty awesome too, but the opening… Probably my favorite thing that I've ever written.

~0~0~0~

The ticking grew louder and louder, drawing the attention of all the robots. Then an unsettling silence spread through the room, which was immediately followed by a large explosion destroying the large metal wall. The smoke cleared, revealing something nobody was prepared for; a one armed man in a wheelchair covered with guns, flamethrowers, and grenade and missile launchers being pushed by a blind guy.

Scott pulled a rope, and four missiles were launched into the horde of robots. The legion then turned away from the captured group, deeming them not a threat, and started charging towards the armed wheelchair.

"Okay, they're right in front of us…" Scott whispered, "Three, two, ONE!"

Both of them pulled two ropes each releasing a wave of flames, bullets, and various explosives into the army, successfully destroying 3/4ths of them.

"You going to stand there, or fight?" Scott taunted his teammates who were still trying to comprehend what just happened, "Go left!" he ordered Jackson, as he shot a couple of robots with a pistol.

After the team recovered, they each grabbed some sort of melee weapon and began slaughtering robots right and left.

~0~0~0~

After the Abby had broken at least half of the Administrators bones, she paused for a moment, "Now apologize."

"What?"

"Apologize."

"I've made your life a living Hell, I'm about to die, and you want me to apologize?" The Administrator was shocked by the naivety of this mere lab rat.

"Yes."

"Never."

"Now…" Abby growled as she crushed the Administrator's throat.

"N-no." Unnoticed by Abby, the Administrator weakly lifted her arm, and grabbed the metal plate.

"The longer you take to apologize, the longer you're stuck in here with me, NOW APOLOGIZE!"

"N-no-" the Administrator's body went limp, the gas finished her off before Abby could. In her hand was the metal plate. The metal armor and weapons on Abby disappeared. And for the first time in 10 years, she was able to take a breath, but the air was toxic.

A wave of anger fell over Abby as the gas began to suffocate her, "YOU MEAN I COULD'VE TAKEN THAT STUPID THING OFF THIS WHOLE TIME!?" her legs grew weak and she collapsed in the dark box.

~0~0~0~

"Okay, now forward." Scott instructed Jackson towards the control room as threw a grenade into a group of robots, "Left, oh crap! Right!"

"Make up yer mind!"

"Right!" they wheeled into the control room, "Abby, you in here?" A light tapping was heard from a metal box on the side of the room, "Is that you?" he noticed the gas being pumped into it, "Um, we're going to bust you out of there, hold on!" he shot a couple of sticky bombs onto it, "Backwards!" Once they were at a safe distance, the bombs went off, destroying one side of the wall. "Forwards about twenty feet."

Abby laid unconscious inside next to the remains of the Administrator. She coughed and regained consciousness. "Did we win?"

"Not yet." A voice from behind them spat. Gray, Blutarch, and Redmond Mann were standing on the opposite side of the room. They were all in a giant robot. Gray at the head and the others on each arm. "I applaud your resourcefulness though."

"What is it?" Jackson asked Scott.

"A giant-friggen robot." Scott slapped his hand over his face, "Of course."

"We haven't come this far just to be stopped by a bunch of psychopaths." Redmond called from the left arm.

"We're out of ammo, aren't we?" Scott asked sarcastically, "We always run out of ammo at the worst time."

"Yep."

"Of course…"

"I've actually gotten used to it." Abby shrugged.

"Now, if you don't mind, we'll be smashing you now." Blutarch hissed from the right arm, "Oh I'm going to enjoy this."

A canon mounted on the robots chest began glowing, but a rock flew through the air and hit it before it could fire.

"TASTE THE RAINBOW!" Tavish slurred as he lobbed another rock at the giant metal contraption.

The mechanical giant stomped over to him and lifted him into the air, "You really thought you could stop us?" Gray spat.

"I wasn't tryin'." He grinned as the robot began to malfunction, dropping him onto the cold floor. He and the others ran for cover as the robot exploded in a fireball of doom.

"How-?" Scott looked over the debris.

"Zhat would be my doing." The BLU Spy materialized next to him, "Those idiots forgot about my sapper."

"Did we actually win this time?" Boris stepped over a large piece of metal.

"I think we did…" Nathan sat down on another piece of wreckage.

"What now?" Mackenzie limped over to Scott.

"I'll answer that…" A female voice calmly responded, the woman was shorter, had glasses, dark hair, and a purple dress. Behind her was a large group of FBI agents. "You will all go home and pretend this never happened."

"Okay, I'm done." Abby threw her hands in the air, "I'm not sitting through anymore explanations, expositions or anything. I'll be waiting outside."

"Me too." Nathan trotted after her, "I've had enough secret schemes and crap to last a lifetime."

"Ditto," Scott groaned, "Forward."

"Anyone else?" Miss Pauling asked, no one moved, "Good, we've been working on trying to take this operation apart, but have failed each time. Luckily for us, you all happened to be here."

"Wait, you mean we could've had _government assistance _and not have to fight by ourselves?" Martin stepped forward, "And now that we've destroyed a company who was trying to _take over the world_, you're telling us not to talk about it?"

"Basically, yes."

Martin went to say something, but instead just shot a glare at her and followed the others out. One by one everyone followed him, but Miss Pauling stopped Mackenzie, "Sorry about your uncle."

"How did you know about that?" Mackenzie shot her the mother of all glares.

"I killed him while I was undercover."

Mackenzie stood silent for a moment, not making any facial expressions, then punched Miss Pauling in the face, knocking her to the ground, "Good riddance." She spat a wad of spit onto her before she walked outside.

"Ma'am, do we arrest them?" one of the FBI agents asked.

"No," Miss Pauling said as she stood up, "They've been through enough. Now secure the evidence."

"Yes, Admiral Pauling."


	32. Boston

I had way too much fun writing the last chapter. Now time to wrap things up! Let's start with… *Reaches into hat and pulls out four pieces of paper* Nathan, Abby, Jackson and Martin! Sounds good! As always; stay focused and- Ooh look a pretty butterfly! :D

~0~0~0~

Abby walked outside, and was greeted by a sunset. She felt the cold desert breeze on her skin, causing goose-bumps to form. She stood for a moment, letting the cold air fill her lungs as she inhaled. Then she cheered. Cheered because of their victory. Cheered because she regained her senses and ability to breather. And cheered because she finally free from everything they had ever done to her. When Nathan walked out, she ran over to him and gave him a huge, bone crushing hug. The warmth of his body felt wonderful.

"Are you okay?" he gasped as she suffocated him, "And could you please stop trying to break me in half?"

"Better than okay!" She chirped, releasing her grip, then she thought for a second, "Now you get to take me to Boston!"

"What?"

"You promised, remember?"

"Oh, right."

"By the way, I don't really have a place to stay anymore, so…" she looked up at him.

Nathan paused, then started laughing, "I'm pretty sure Ma won't mind."

"Okay, door… forward, stop!" Scott ordered Jackson as they wheeled out of the building.

"You do realize I'm not going to keep driving you around after this, right?" Jackson sighed.

"Yeah, but I'm going to milk it for as long as I can." He waved to Abby and Nathan, "Hey, guys!"

"Hi!" Abby chirped, and Nathan waved, "Doesn't it feel gorgeous out here?" Abby spread her arms out as a breeze passed through.

Jackson didn't want to admit it, but it did feel wonderful outside a finger tapped his shoulder.

"Do you have a place to stay?" it was Martin, "Because if you don't-"

"Hey, we've already got one person staying over!" Nathan gestured to Abby.

"I've already got a place to stay."

"Right, you're going to stay in your van, which you can't drive." He shot a glance at Nathan.

"Fine, if you can convince Ma." Nathan groaned, "I'm not sharing my room, though."

One by one, the rest of the team walked out, Mackenzie being the last. After exchanging information, they went their separate ways. Since they were all going to Boston, Scott tagged along with Martin, Abby, Nathan and Jackson.

"So, where are you going to go?" Scott asked Mackenzie as the Spy and Medic bid farewell to the team.

"You're kidding," Mackenzie glanced at him, "I'm not letting you travel with them by yourself." She jabbed her thumb at Abby who was running around spastically, and Nathan who was trying to get her to calm down." Then whispered, "Besides, I've got nowhere else to go."

"Don't worry, I've got an apartment up north, you can stay with me." Scott pulled her down into a kiss.

~0~0~0~

The trip to Boston was, _interesting_, to say the least. Nathan was stopped four times because of his metal skeleton, but was eventually let in after he signed several papers saying that he was indeed, not a terrorist. Abby spent half her time bouncing between anxiety and excitement. They eventually sedated her so they could board the plane.

Jackson kept bumping into people and various objects, and got lost at one point and they had to wait an hour for the next flight to Boston so they could find him. Mackenzie almost got into a fist fight with a security guard after he insulted Scott, but was calmed down enough to where she just flipped him off. And it took about 20 minutes to get Scott on the plane because of his wheel chair. Martin had to take care of everything as if he were watching a group of toddlers; psychotic, handicapped toddlers.

When they finally boarded the plane Martin collapsed into his chair, "I'm getting to old for this…"

The actual flight wasn't better, Abby's medicine wore off about halfway through, and she somehow manages to get herself locked in the bathroom. After they got her out, she just started staring out the window in awe of the starry night sky, and didn't speak, sleep, move, or eat for the rest of the flight. Mackenzie yelled at a group of kids who were teasing Scott for his disability, luckily the parents of the kids didn't get mad at her, and actually agreed with her.

Nathan fell asleep as soon as they got on board, but woke up a little bit later with motion sickness, and vomited on a stewardess. Jackson just stared blankly ahead, listening to the plane's engines, staying perfectly still and silent. This creeped some of the other passengers out, but didn't do anything particularly bad.

Despite all this, they somehow made it to Boston in one piece. Scott and Mackenzie stayed in a nearby hotel for the night, while Jackson, Martin, Abby, and Nathan rented a car and began driving home.

The drive was much, much easier. Abby was still in a trance as she stared out the window and Nathan got over his motion sickness. It was about 5 a.m. when they arrived, and the sun began rising. The house was nestled in a small forest on the outskirts of Boston, and was painted a bright yellow. A swing-set that obviously hadn't been played with in years sat to the side of it. The leaves were painted shades of red, orange, and yellow matching the colors of the sunrise. A small pond near the back reflected the colors.

Nathan bolted to the front door, and began beating on it furiously while the others dragged their luggage. When the others got to the porch, a woman in a burgundy robe opened the door. She froze for a moment seeing who it was, then crushed her son in a bear hug.

"Hi, Ma." He hugged her back.

"Marie…" Martin stepped up the porch steps and stood next to Nathan. Marie slapped him, then pulled him into a kiss.

After their reunion, she noticed Abby and Jackson standing at the bottom of the porch. Abby was looking at the multicolored leaves and Jackson stared straight down. "Who's this?"

"Oh, um this is Abby and Jackson." Nathan introduced them, "And this is my mom."

Abby snapped out of the trance and waved.

"They don't have a place to stay, I'll explain later." Martin sighed.

"They can stay, but they'll have to work." She smiled sweetly.

"Okay! What should I do?" Abby chirped.

"You could help me make breakfast."

"Sounds fun!" Abby skipped inside, "Can I do anything else?"

"I think I'll like having her around." Marie joked as they walked inside.

~0~0~0~

As they sat eating pancakes and bacon, Abby relayed the whole story to Marie, who accepted everything pretty well. "-and then, there's like this huge giant robot being controlled by these three old dudes, and then the Demo man, I told you about him already, distracts them with this rock, while this other spy destroys it. Then these FBI agents come in and tell us to leave, then we get on the plane, and now we're here." Abby finished, out of breath.

"That's- nice?" she looked over to Martin who just shrugged, she noticed everyone was finished, and started picking up dishes, "Nathan, how about you give Abby and Jackson the grand tour, you can help me with these." She said as she dragged Martin into the kitchen.

"So, do you want to start outside, or inside?" Nathan asked Abby.

"Outside!" she grabbed Jackson's arm and led him outside.

"So, over here is the pond…" Nathan led them to the small pond, a dock was on the side of it, "I'm pretty sure there are some fish in there, and also watch out in the summer for turtles. Those things'll bite your fingers off if you let them."

"What's that?" Abby pointed to the swing-set.

"Oh, just an old swing from when we were kids. What are you-"

Abby ran over to it and stood on one of the swings and started rocking back and forth on it, giggling the whole time, "This is fun!"

"You're supposed to sit in it like this…" Nathan demonstrated by sitting in the swing next to her, he moved his legs back and forth going higher and higher.

"Oh!" Abby mimicked him, and was soon going as fast as he was.

"Hey, watch this." As he swung forwards, he let go, and flew through the air and landed about five feet away.

"I'll try!" Abby copied him, but instead of gracefully flying through the air, she landed face first into the grass.

"You okay?" Nathan asked as he helped her up.

"Let's do that again!" she grinned.

"Would you like to see the woods first?" he asked, hoping she wouldn't dig furrows in the ground with her face again.

"Oh yeah!" she ran over and grabbed Jackson, who was standing near the pond, "Come on!"

~0~0~0~

The trio hiked through a forest trail, it was covered in leaves which crunched as they stepped on them.

"There's a stream just ahead that leads to the lake." Nathan pointed ahead, "We've got an old row boat out there that we can use."

"Hey look!" Abby pointed into the woods where a herd of deer were grazing.

"Oh, sweet, stay quiet so they won't run off." Nathan instructed as he crouched behind a rock.

"What are they?" Abby whispered.

"White-tailed deer." Nathan whispered back, "When they run away from you they flash their tails to warm other deer, or something."

"That's so cool!"

One deer started walking towards them, "Stay perfectly still." Nathan whispered.

Jackson had absolutely no idea what they were talking about, so he just stood in plain sight, listening to the wind blowing through the trees. The deer walked towards them, and noticed Jackson.

"Oh crap…" Nathan said as quietly as possible.

But the deer cautiously walked towards him, and sniffed his hand. Jackson pulled his arm up and jumped, but the deer didn't walk away and continued to curiously sniff at him. A couple of other deer noticed and trotted over to them and started sniffing at him too. "Shoo! Get away!" Jackson tried to chase them off, but they didn't no matter how much he flailed his arms at them.

"Wow…" Nathan whispered, just audible enough for the deer to hear him, and they bounded away.

"What just happened?" Jackson asked as he brushed himself off.

"All hail the deer king!" Abby teased, "Can we go to the lake now?"

~0~0~0~

At the lake, Nathan got out the boat and he and Abby climbed in, Jackson politely refused, and sat against a tree.

"Okay, whatever you say, we'll be back in fifteen minutes." Nathan said as he pushed the boat into the lake, "Shout if you need anything."

Jackson sighed as a gust of wind almost knocked his hat off. He heard a little chattering noise next to him and felt something warm and fuzzy climb up his arm.

"Get out of here, I'm not a chair." he tried shooing the furry creature away.

The creature chattered again, and curled up in a ball on his shoulder.

"Fine… You can stay…" he grunted as the creature started to snore lightly.

Soon he fell asleep, and when he woke up about ten minutes later, there was a large, hairy animal lying down next to him, something curled up in his lap, and a bird of some sort had found a way under his hat.

"Ugh, why won't you leave me alone…" he groaned as he pet whatever it was asleep in his lap.

He heard a loud splash nearby and Abby laughing, then a gasp. All of the animals ran off.

Nathan ran over to Jackson, "That was a bear! A freaking bear!"

"I don't know, was it?" Jackson shrugged.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was a bear." Abby confirmed.

"Why didn't it eat you?" Nathan was freaking out, "It was a freaking bear!"

Jackson stood up, brushing his pants off, "We've established that already." He said, mildly irritated.

"NA-THAN!" A voice called from some distance away, "HOME!"

"I think your mom wants us to go back." Abby said, leading Jackson down the path.

"A freaking bear…" Nathan whispered one last time before following them.


	33. The Invitation

The last chapter came out better than I expected… Now for lovey-dovey romance fluff. (YOU PEOPLE DON'T KNOW THE TORTURE I PUT MYSELF THROUGH TO WRITE THIS!) Don't worry; I'll put effort into it… Speaking of effort, I can't believe how fast I wrote this! What has it been? About a month? Not bad… This chapter is actually based on every single time I shop with my grandma. As always; never walk around barefooted when you know for certain your younger sibling has Lego bricks lying around, and enjoy.

P.S. A shout out to all of my readers in Korea and the Middle East, I know things probably suck right now, but don't worry! All will be well… *Crazy, evil, crooked smile with a slight head tilt* All will be well…

(I do not own the Monte Carlo Hotel, if I did, I'd be a millionaire)

~0~0~0~

(One Year Later)

"Miss Mackenzie…" the BLU Engineer called to her from his workshop.

"How'd it turn out, Dell?"

"Better than I expected!" he held his arm out, as Scott walked out of the workshop. His non-existing limbs replaced with robotic ones that were shaped exactly like the previous ones.

"Wow!" Mackenzie ran up to him, inspecting his new arm, "Does it hurt?"

"Not at all…" he had a smug look on his face.

"Will they need to be replaced?" Mackenzie asked Dell.

"Nope, but you'll have to drop by once a year so I can tune 'im up." He said, wiping the grease off his hands, he noticed Scott nudge his head, "Oh, right, here ya go." He tossed a small black box to him, and his wife and daughter scurried in.

"What's that?" Mackenzie eyed it, suspiciously.

"Mackenzie, ever since I first saw you, I knew I wanted to be with you. Now that I'm able to kneel down properly, and at the risk of sounding too corny;" he kneeled down on his new leg, "Mackenzie Beatrix Douglas; Will you marry me?" he opened the little black box revealing a simple gold band with a small diamond mounted on it.

Mackenzie stood still for a moment, her legs shaking and tears welling up in her eyes. Then she flung herself into his arms, "Y-yes!" a round of applause came from Dell and his family as they kissed.

~0~0~0~

Abby and Jackson settled into the house well, and Marie absolutely loved having another female in the house, especially one so willing to help her with housework. Once a day, Jackson disappeared into the woods, and came back about an hour later, and continued with whatever Marie wanted him to do.

One day, Abby ran in waving a letter over her head, "Everyone! Check this out! We're invited to a wedding!"

"What?" Nathan and Marie peeked their heads out from the kitchen, Martin looked up from the couch, and Jackson just sort of sat at the kitchen table listening.

"For who?" Nathan walked over and took the letter, "I knew it! Scott and Mackenzie!"

"Oh, a wedding! How exciting!" Marie chirped as she went back to baking, "We'll have to get you a dress, Abby."

Abby stood for a moment, "Dress?"

"Ooh! And I can do your hair, and makeup!"

"Um, makeup?"

"Yeah! When is it?"

"In two weeks, in-" Nathan cheered a little, "The Monte Carlo Casino, in Las Vegas!"

Marie gasped and ran over to see the invitation, "Are you serious!" she squealed excitedly, then read the next line; "All amenities will be paid for in full, and we will pay for your travel expenses." And she nearly fainted, causing Abby and Nathan to catch her.

~0~0~0~

Marie dragged Abby to a department store, and forced her to try on different dresses.

"No, that one doesn't look good, here try this one!" She handed Abby a light pink dress and pushed her back into the changing room.

"Why does it matter?" Abby whined as she put the dress on.

"This is a wedding, you can't just dress normally." Marie answered, "Hey, how does a tiara sound?"

"Ugh, fine…" Abby said stepping out of the changing room, "Can I please not try any more on? This is the fifth dress in the last ten minutes."

"Hmm, this one looks pretty good, ooh perfect!" she held out a teal sleeveless dress with a black band across the waist, "Put this on!"

Abby groaned dramatically as she walked back into the changing room. "Is this one okay?"

"Perfect! It complements your eyes wonderfully!" Marie clapped her hands together, "Now for accessories!"

"What happens at a wedding anyway?" Abby asked as they looked over an assortment of tiaras.

"Well, the major thing is the marriage part, the bride will walk down the aisle in a gorgeous gown, and they'll say their vows, then kiss."

"Ew."

"Then there's the reception, which is basically a big party; we'll eat cake, drink wine, and celebrate."

"Wine?"

"Not you, sweetie, you're too young!'

"Sounds fun." Abby shrugged as she picked up a silver tiara designed like a wreath, "How's this one?"

"To floral, try this one!" She handed her a traditional tiara decorated with sapphire gems.

"What do the guys wear?" she asked as she put it on.

"Ooh perfect! Oh, they wear suits."

"What kind of suits?"

"Tuxedos. Now for some shoes! Go change back into your other clothes."

Abby changed back into her normal clothes and walked disdainfully over to the shoe department with the dress and tiara draped over her arm.

"Can you walk in high heels?" Marie handed her a pair of open toe heels.

"Why would anyone wear shoes like these?" Abby asked looking at the three inch tall heels.

"To look nice, now put them on and try walking."

Abby tripped over herself but got the hang of it pretty quickly, "Are we done now?"

"Yes."

"Yes!"

"Now we get me a dress!"

"Nooooo…"

~0~0~0~

"No…" Martin inspected Nathan's suit, "It doesn't look good at all."

"Does it matter?" Nathan complained, causing Jackson, who was sitting nearby, to laugh.

"Yes, this is a formal event, and no son of mine will go to one looking like a street urchin." He held out another suit, "Try this one on. And don't laugh, Jackson, you're next."

"Ugh." Both groaned in unison.

"Here, try this tie on with that." He tossed a tie over the changing room door.

"Is this one good enough?" Nathan sighed as he stepped out.

"Yes, this will do nicely." He approved after inspecting it, "Now take it back off, Jackson it's you turn."

The blind man grunted as he stood up and walked over to Martin, he'd gotten better at moving around by himself significantly in the past year and almost never bumped into anything or anyone.

Martin handed him a suit and pushed him into the changing room, "Here put this on."

"What the heck is this thing?" Jackson held a cummerbund up over the door.

"A cummerbund; put it on your waist." Martin called back without looking as he rooted through some ties.

"I'm going to see how Ma and Abby are doing." Nathan said after handing Martin his suit.

~0~0~0~

Nathan cut through the perfume department which had a large cloud of conflicting scents hanging over it. After dodging sales ladies he ducked through the shoe department and finally found Abby standing outside the ladies changing room holding about 7 dresses.

"Having fun?" Nathan teased her.

"Depends on your definition of fun." Abby groaned, "Your mom can't make up her mind, she's been in there for twenty minutes."

"Abby! Bring me the red one!" She called from the changing room.

"Coming!" Abby handed Nathan the pile of dresses except for a bright red dress.

"Nope, bring me the pink one, this one's too small."

"You already tried that one on twice!"

"Well, I'm going to try it on again."

"Ugh." Abby snatched a light pink dress from the pile, "We're going to be here forever… How're you guys doing?"

"Dad's teaching Jackson about the fundamentals of cummerbunds." Nathan rolled his eyes, "I've got my suit already, so hopefully we won't be stuck here too much longer."

"Have you got shoes yet?"

"Oh, crap."


	34. The Wedding

It was actually kind of fun writing the last chapter, mostly because I've been in that exact situation. Now for the actual wedding; YOU FLUFF-LOVING PEOPLE HAVE NO IDEA HOW PAINFUL IT IS FOR ME TO WRITE THIS! Also this chapter has probably the saddest thing I've ever written. After this there will only be three or four chapters! Hooray! As always; don't salt your food before you taste it, and enjoy!

~0~0~0~

The plane ride to Vegas was better than the previous one. Nathan had to fill out another series of papers and go through about seven x-rays, but otherwise it was actually pleasant. Abby entered a trance as soon as they arrived, Jackson didn't get lost, nobody tried to get into a fist fight with a security guard, and nobody got trapped in a bathroom.

When they got to Vegas it was late at night. Neon lights were flashing left and right. Cars were everywhere, and head and tail lights dotted the road. Skyscrapers pierced the sky, and were decorated with flashing lights. Not even the stars could compare to the brightness of the city.

Abby and Nathan stared out of the window of the rental car in wonder. The car was perfectly silent as they pulled into the parking lot of the mammoth sized hotel.

The whole night, Abby stood at a window staring at the city. Hypnotized by the flashing lights.

~0~0~0~

The next morning Abby, Mia and Marie helped Mackenzie with getting ready for the wedding which would take place that evening. It was actually more like Marie and Mia fussing about it while Abby and Mackenzie just did what they said.

After Mackenzie donned her long flowing dress which was decorated with several multicolored butterflies, Abby tripped over the tail of it and knocked over a side table which had several bottles of wine on it, which almost spilled onto the dress.

"Okay, now you go make sure the guys aren't doing anything too stupid!" Marie shooed Abby out of the room after Mia scolded her a bit, "Come back in about an hour and we'll get you ready, 'kay?"

Before she could answer Marie slammed the door.

"Fine, I didn't want to help anyway." Abby glared at the door and began walking down the hall towards the large room where the men were setting up the decorations for the reception.

"No, no, no, no!" She heard someone shout just before she walked in, and that was followed immediately by a crash and the sound of about twenty doves screeching.

"Are you okay?" Abby poked her head into the room, most of the guys were chasing the escaped birds, a caterer was screaming at another couple of caterers, and Jackson just sat in the corner of the room listening to the chaos.

"Yeah, could you help please?" Nathan called as he chased a dove across the room, colliding with Tavish who was chasing a bird in the opposite direction.

"Why do you even need doves?" Abby asked as she stalked a bird which landed near a buffet table.

"They came free with the cake." Scott called from across the room.

"You got birds with a cake…" Abby caught the bird and returned it to its cage, "That's probably one of the most bizarre marketing gimmicks I've heard of."

"That's what I said!" Jackson shouted from his corner. Five doves rested on his shoulders and one was curled up in his hand.

After a while, all but one dove was found. Everyone just assumed it would turn up eventually while they were decorating and went back to what they were doing. Abby began to set up chairs when she heard a soft cooing from underneath a table pushed against a wall.

She lifted up the white tablecloth and saw a dove tangled in some wires flailing around helplessly, dripping in its own blood.

"Calm down…" she said softly as she untangled the wires, freeing the bird. She carefully cradled it in her hands and slowly pulled it out from under the table.

"Find the last bird?" Nathan trotted over to her then saw the bloody dove in Abby's hands, "Oh…"

"Do you think we can save it?" she looked up at him with fear in her eyes.

"I don't know… It looks pretty bad." He poked it slightly and it didn't move.

"I've got to go." Abby bolted out of the room with the bird.

~0~0~0~

The ceremony part of the wedding went perfectly, even if they were short one dove. Vows were exchanged, tears were shed, all of the stereotypical wedding stuff. The reception was a different story.

Half the people who attended were drunk, or at least very good at pretending like they were. Somehow someone had managed to lose the cake, but it was found in the women's restroom, no one figured out who put it there. At some point someone hooked up a karaoke machine, which in hindsight probably wasn't the best idea. Tavish and Soldier got completely and utterly drunk, and hogged it the whole night. Aside from the total chaos, the night was actually enjoyable.

Towards the end of the reception; Nathan, Scott and Jackson struck up a conversation near the buffet.

"Look, all I'm saying is that I've had it worse off than you guys-" Nathan explained.

"Are you kidding? My mom and brother were murdered, my father was an abusive a**, and I had three limbs blown up!" Scott cut him off, "You just have that robot skeleton thingy!"

"Yer both a couple of wimps, I bet no one's been through half the stuff I have." Jackson argued.

"How much do you wanna bet?" Abby popped up behind Nathan, "Now you're going to teach me how to dance." She pulled Nathan into the crowd, despite his protests.

"A match made in psycho Heaven." Mackenzie laughed as she walked up to her husband, "Hey Jackson, how're you doing?"

"Pretty good." He shrugged his shoulders, "The wine's a little bitter though."

"Speaking of which," Scott cut him off, "How come you haven't tried any?"

"Oh, it would be irresponsible of me." Mackenzie smiled.

"It would only be irresponsible if you drank as much as them." He jabbed a thumb at Tavish and Soldier, drunkenly singing across the room.

"At this point any would be irresponsible." She grinned smugly.

"Yeah, I'm confused."

"Scott," she said sweetly, "I'm pregnant."

"Wha- you're- woah…" he leaned against the wall.

"I'll let you two talk about this alone." Jackson started walking along the wall, "See ya later."

~0~0~0~

Jackson spent about five minutes idly walking around the edges of the room, avoiding as many people as he could. As he was circling the room for the third time, he bumped into a frail figure, spilling wine onto it.

"Watch were you're going, young man!" an elderly woman's voice scolded him, "Ye nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry, are you okay?"

"Well you ruined my good dress for one thing! Ye know yer gonna have ta pay for it, right?"

"Um, sure, how much?"

"I don't know; TAVISH, GET OVA HERE AND TELL ME HOW MUCH THIS DRESS IS WORTH!"

"Coming, mum!" Tavish ran over to them, gaining some sober-ness, "Hi Jackson, I see ye've met me mum."

"Yeah…" Jackson shifted awkwardly.

"Now what's all this fuss about?" he put his hand on his mom's shoulder.

"This little nut spilled wine all ova me!"

"Mum, don't worry about it, it was an accident."

"So, he still has to pay for it!"

"Mum, cut him some slack, he's blind." He said in a hushed tone.

"So am I, but I don't go 'round ruining peoples clothes!"

"Don't worry 'bout it, mum. It won't cost much to clean it anyway."

"Fine, I'll let him off the hook if he'll be my date for the rest of the evening."

"W-what?"

"I'm old, I should be able to have a little fun. 'sides, you sound like a handsome young man."

"Just this once?" Tavish whispered into his ear.

"Fine, but you owe me." Jackson muttered back as Tavish's mom grabbed his arm, "A lot."

~0~0~0~

Jackson spent the rest of the evening listen to Tavish's mom tell stories about her husband and his various jobs, Tavish's childhood, life in Scotland, and an incident which involved a large boar, a saddle, and a bucket. Then the last song of the night began to play. It's slow, soothing melody filled the room.

"Come on, lad." She pulled Jackson to the dance floor, "After this yer off the hook."

As they slowly spun around, she continued telling her stories.

About halfway through the song, Tavish tapped his shoulder, "Mind if I cut in, lad?"

"Go ahead." He passed her to him and felt someone tug at his arm.

"Would you like to finish with me?" a gentle and unfamiliar voice asked.

"Um… sure."

"I'm Alicia, what's your name?" She asked.

"I'm Jackson." He answered awkwardly.

"That's a nice name. I've always liked it."

"Um… I like your…"

"You don't have to compliment me; I know you can't see me." She calmly said, "My grandpa was when he was alive."

"Oh," Jackson was unsure of what to do in this situation, "I'm sorry…"

"No, it's okay; he died happy." A hint of sadness was in her voice, "So, where are you from?"

"Australia."

"Ooh, I've always wanted to visit there. What's it like?"

"Hot, dry and unforgiving; the people there aren't much better." He cringed as he recalled the unpleasant memories. "I haven't been there in a long time though, things might have changed."

"Hopefully." The music began to stop, "Hey, do you have a phone? Maybe we could meet up again sometime."

"Oh, um sure." Jackson's cheeks grew hot and he felt a knot in his stomach form.

~0~0~0~

Right at the end of the reception, everyone who was involved in the war a year ago gathered outside by the pool with 5 small lanterns. Each was decorated with a different symbol, a blue bomb, a red wrench, a blue fist, a red rocket, and a red cross. Each was released into the night sky one by one; giving those they represented a proper sendoff.

Dell released the first one; "Sorry, bud, wish we could'a known ya better…" he sighed as the lantern floated slowly into the air.

Roger, the RED Pyro, released the second, he and the RED Engineer had been very close friends; "Goodbye, old friend… Just so you know; it was me who broke your good wrench." He smiled and held back tears as the lantern rushed to catch up with the other. Mia walked up and put her arm around him.

Josef, the BLU Medic, released the third together; "Thank you, for _everything_." Josef whispered as it caught a breeze and flew away. Francis, the BLU Spy walked up to him and put his hand on his shoulder as they watched it fly away.

Scott and Mackenzie released the fourth together; "Tell your sister I said hi." Mackenzie smiled with tears in her eyes. "You were the most awesome guy I knew." Scott grinned, "It was an honor serving with you too."

Abby released the last one; she didn't say anything but as soon as it and the other lanterns disappeared, she ran off into the bushes crying.

Nathan followed her and arrived at a tree where Abby was hunched over a small mound of dirt, decorated with two sticks tied together like a cross with a white, bloody feather attached to it, weeping. Nathan sat next to her, pulled her into a hug, and allowed her to cry into his chest.

"I-it's not fair!" she sobbed, "People sh-shouldn't die."

"I know." He whispered, cradling her in his arms as tears stained his shirt, "Everything's going to be alright."

They stayed underneath the tree for three hours, listening to the wind rush through the tree, and watching the lights of the stars above them desperately try to outshine the lights of the city, and for a moment, it seemed like they succeeded. A star streaked across the sky, and for a split second, this seemed to give the other stars enough energy to glow their brightest, outshining the neon lights below.

The moonlight glistened through the trees, reflecting off of Abby's tear-stained cheeks and dark hair, perfectly framing her face with a soft, pale glow. They sat in complete silence until Abby fell asleep in Nathan's arms, and hr carried her back into the hotel.

As soon as he got inside, a loud crash was heard outside as the caterers packed up their stuff. The 19 other birds flew away, escaping the caterers. They flew to the tree were Abby and Nathan had been sitting, and gathered around the small grave. Perfectly silent as they mourned for their lost friend.


	35. Angels

I really can't describe this chapter other than; I've never written anything like it, _ever_ before. Yeah, I got super depressed when writing the last chapter, it's like, three quarters of it was; Ooh! Happy, new beginnings! Fluff! Babies! Cake! Funny! Then at the end it was like; Depression. Death. Sad. Mourning. Tears. Pain. Only two or three chapters (counting this one) to go! Yay! As always; Never leave your pants in a freezer, and enjoy!

~0~0~0~

The five lanterns gently rode the hot Nevada breeze through the city. They glided over Casinos and Hotels, over the drunks stumbling around in the streets, over the flashing neon lights that decorated the massive city.

They flew higher, and higher, until they were above even the tallest of the buildings. They softly floated through the air, and one by one, they began to burn out.

The first to fall was the one with the bomb on it, the others following shortly behind it. As they slowly descended into the city below, a small child, no older than 5, wandered through the darkened alleyways, calling for his mother and father whom he had gotten separated from.

He was soon in the darkest part of the alleyways were the unsavory sort of people frequently gathered. He slowly and cautiously creeped around, recalling what his father had told him about the alleyways. He always said that bad people lived in them, that they would hurt him if they could, and to always stay away from them.

As soon as he had lost all hope of seeing his parents again, he collapsed in the alleyway. He hugged his knees and forced back tears as he shuddered with fear.

Then, he looked up and saw a cluster of five lights floating slowly through the sky. They stood out from the other lights of the city, which were cold and intense. These lights however had a warm, loving glow. They were so simple compared to the other lights, yet twice as beautiful as them.

The small child stood up; all previous fear left him, as he followed the strange lights through the alleys. They slowly guided him through the alleyways; like a beacon guiding a ship through a horrible storm. The child though of the angels his mom told him stories about, and how they would help people when they were in trouble. She always told the best stories at bedtime. He would lay in his warm bed, with only a small lamp dimly lighting the room. His mother would lay down next to him, and he would curl up against her as she read him tales of great adventure, journeys to uncharted lands, and knights rescuing fair princesses from evil dragons. But his favorite stories were of the angels. They comforted him, and made him feel safe.

He walked through the alleyways, keeping the lanterns in his sight constantly as they led him through the scary place. Soon he was on a busy sidewalk, surrounded by strange faces, but he still followed the lanterns. They led him through the crowd, towards a small, dirty apartment complex where two figures were hugging each other, talking to a policeman.

One was a woman; she had long blonde hair which fell against her small frame. Her eyes were a deep brown and filled with tears. She was surrounded by a warm and caring aura.

The other was a man; he was a giant compared to the woman and the policeman. His presence was both intimidating and wise. His hair and small moustache were a bright brown, and his eyes were a sharp, steely grey.

The lanterns floated over their heads, and led the small boy right to them. The two people stared at him in shock for a second, then they began hugging and kissing him. They picked him up and held him in between them in a group hug. The child instantly recognized them as his parents, and was comforted by their warm embrace.

The policeman smiled warmly, tipped his hat and drove off as they stood in the doorway of the apartment. The mother asked how he found them.

"The angels helped me." He pointed to the lanterns which were dimming rapidly. When the parents turned around to see, they had completely disappeared into the night sky.


	36. An Unexpected Visit

Now, I could've ended the story at the last chapter, but I've got one story arc to finish; Jackson's. THIS IS THE SECOND TO LAST CHAPTER! :'D I'M SO HAPPY! As always; don't run with scissors, and enjoy!

P.S. I'm still sorry, real-life Australians, blame Valve.

~0~0~0~

One week after the wedding, everyone resumed their regular routine. They'd all work on cleaning and stuff. Abby and Nathan would go explore the forest, fish, and take a ride in the small boat when they were finished. Marie would cook a big supper for everyone, the smell flooding the house, and work on a painting she had been working on for a year. It was of five people standing on a dock. One was tall and gangly, another was a small, but energetic looking girl, next to her was a boy with wheat colored hair, and lastly there was an older couple, past their prime, but still filled with energy. Martin had begun writing a book based on his experiences on an old typewriter he had inherited from his father. He had already written the first two chapters; which were about his and Max's army shenanigans. He titled his book; War. Lastly, Jackson would disappear into the woods for an hour, and then reappear around dinnertime.

One day was different however, he had stayed in the woods about an hour extra, and so Martin decided to go look for him. Near the pond was a small path of trampled branches which lead to a small clearing covered with wildflowers. A tree stump stuck out in the center of it. Jackson was sitting cross legged on top of it, a cardinal perched on his knee, as he carefully carved it's likeness into a piece of wood. He paused for a second, reached out and ran his finger along the bird's tail, then continued carving.

"Jackson?" Martin called from the path, scaring the bird away.

"Ugh, you scared it off…" Jackson grunted as he dropped the knife and carving into his lap.

"You didn't come back when you usually do." Martin stated as he approached the stump, "What do you do out here anyway?"

Jackson pointed down to a small hollow at the base of the stump; it was filled with small wooden carvings of various animals. Each looked exactly like the animal it was mimicking, except smaller and wooden. The detail on them was incredible. "It helps me clear my head."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, it's just- I've got a lot on my mind."

"Like what?"

"I realized that I haven't talked to my parents in almost 10 years. The last time I called them was about a year after I took that job. I'm not even sure if they're still _around_."

"You could always call them now."

"Are you kidding? I'd be lucky if they even spat in my direction now!"

"It would be better than sitting out here all day wondering about it." He tugged his shirt sleeve, "Come on; let's go inside."

~0~0~0~

Jackson crossed his arms over his chest tightly as the plane streaked through the sky.

"Are you ill?" Martin shot a sideways glance towards him.

"No."

"Scared?"

"No."

"Nervous?"

"No."

"Fine, I was only trying to help." Martin sighed as he put some headsets on.

They remained silent until they got off the plane and entered the airport. It was packed with large, muscular, mustached men, and strongly built women, a couple of which also had mustaches, somehow. Jackson stood at least a head above all of them, and stuck out like a big, fat, red thumb. A huge cacophony filled the airport, and someone had apparently started a fistfight at customs.

As they made their way through the burly crowd, Martin noticed people staring at Jackson as they walked. Apparently everyone deemed Martin a foreigner, however, and paid no attention to him. When they got to their taxi, the driver glared at Jackson as he climbed into the car, and refused to speak with him the whole drive and only took directions from Martin.

They were dropped off about a mile away from their destinations at a small diner, the drivers reasoning? "I can't stand that _freak _in my car anymore."

"That was rude!" Martin said as he flipped off the cab driver as he drove away.

"You get used to it after a while…" Jackson said bitterly as he picked up his suitcase.

"What are you talking about?" Martin was still glaring at the road, even though the taxi had disappeared.

"I'm part Aboriginal. For some reason people got it in their heads that they were evil, and even though segregation was outlawed, we're still treated like dirt." Jackson kicked a rock, "That's the exact reason why I didn't want to come back here in the first place. Come on, we'd better start walking."

~0~0~0~

After following the road in the scorching heat, with storm clouds overhead, threatening to burst at any moment, they finally arrived at their destination.

"Ugh, I thought it was winter here." Martin panted as they stepped onto the porch.

"This is Australia; it never cools down." Jackson laughed as he knocked on the door of the red house.

A plump, elderly woman answered the door, upon seeing the tall man; she froze, and then broke into tears as she pulled him into a bone crushing hug.

"H-hey mum…" he gasped, his lungs being crushed.

"My baby's b-back!" She blubbered, "Where have you been?!"

~0~0~0~

After he was finally released from the death-hug, Jackson was dragged into the house as Lizzie demanded to know everything that had happened. Then she noticed Martin, who explained that he was escorting Jackson because of his blindness; this caused Lizzie to go into a panic.

"How could this happen?! Are you okay?!"

"Yes, mum, I'm fine…"

"My poor, poor baby!"

Martin rolled his eyes and began looking at the three photos which lined the mantle of a large fireplace at the other end of the room. The was a picture of a gorgeous woman and a young girl, but the father was ripped out of the picture, all that remained of him was a dark hand which rested on the girls shoulder. The picture in the center was of a beautiful woman, who bore a striking resemblance to the young girl in the other picture, a big, muscular man who looked exactly like every other man he had seen in the airport, and a skinny, lanky young boy who looked like a younger version of Jackson. The last picture was of a woman in a sundress frowning, with a young boy and girl on either side of her. A large assortment of wooden carvings of various animals surrounded them.

A short elderly man walked in and began to yell at Jackson. Martin looked at him and back to the picture. It was obviously the same man, but, _deflated_. Martin only half-listened to the argument, because he felt that it wasn't his place to say anything, but what he did hear was a series of curses and profanity. In the end; Jackson stormed out the backdoor instinctively, and, before he could lock himself in his office, Lizzie berated him. They were silenced by a large clap of thunder and the sound of heavy rain falling on the roof.

~0~0~0~

Jackson followed the path he had walked many times as a child. It was almost exactly as he had remembered, minus a few misplaced rocks. He felt his way through the brush, which had overgrown in the time he had been gone, and found the hollow tree and boulder by the stream.

The tree however, was truly hollow, and his small wooden creations were missing. He shrugged it off and assumed that they had rotted away by now. He felt the atmosphere get heavier, and felt his way towards the small cave not too far from there. On his way over there, he heard a blood-curdling screech. The source of this was something large and wounded. He walked towards it, and heard it thrash around.

He ran his hand over its back, it was long and rough, obviously a crocodile. As his hand grazed its lower back however, it screeched in pain again, its tail was missing. A loud clap of thunder shook the forest, and he heaved the beast onto his back, ignoring its protests, and carried it to the cave as rain poured down.

Inside the cave, he listened to the steady flow of rain outside. The crocodile eventually calmed down, and lay against his leg. In the span of an hour, several other animals had found refuge from the storm in the same cave. They all sat on or next to Jackson, sharing body heat with each other, completely forgetting about eating or attacking each other.

Soon they were all unconscious; hypnotized by the rhythmic pounding of the rain.


	37. The Storm

THIS IS IT! THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER! For the record; I know I left some things unresolved and that the ending is '_harsh_', that's the point *evil laugh*. All in all, I think this story was a huge success for my first fic. Sure it was cheesy at times, but I learned a lot about writing characters and such. And I was blown away when I saw that people from, literally, all over the world read this! Well, after this, I'm going to make a spin-off of it about Jackson and the village. I think I mentioned it in an earlier chapter. I hope you guys had as much fun reading this as I did writing this, and hope people will still enjoy it for a long time! As always; it's illegal to name a pig Napoleon in France, and enjoy!

P.S. This is possibly the most cold, cruel, depressing, and all around mean spirited way I could end this particular story; beware.

~0~0~0~

When the rain stopped, and the animals left, Jackson decided it would be best to return in hopes of finally making amends with his father. He trekked through the muddy forest, carefully avoiding fallen trees.

He arrived at the hollow tree and leaned against it; thinking of what to do when he got back. His thoughts were interrupted by a rustling in the brush nearby.

"Who's there?" Jackson called out.

"Your worst nightmare, _freak_." A gritty voice hissed.

~0~0~0~

Adam and Martin set off to search for Jackson once the rain stopped. Clouds still hung in the air. They trudged through the mud, frequently getting stuck, and cut through the brush. They found a small cave and some footprints leading towards a stream.

They followed the tracks for a while before a deafening bang went off further ahead. They ducked down for cover as five more shots were fired. After a moment of silence a tall, man ran through the forest to their right, not noticing them. The pair of aging men ran towards where the shots were fired, fearing the worst.

They pushed through the thick undergrowth, and were met by the worst. Jackson was lying on the ground next to the hollow tree. The mud around him was stained red, and a puddle of red liquid was slowly spreading out to his side. Six holes pierced his body; three in his stomach, two on his right leg, and one right through the heart. His arms were wrapped around his chest, suppressing as much blood flow as possible, and his face was twisted in pain.

"Jackson!" His father ran over to him and pressed on the wound on his chest, trying to keep him from bleeding out.

"Hey, dad. Hey, Martin." Jackson calmly said.

"Hold on, we're going to get you to a doctor." Martin tied his jacket around his leg, blood seeped through it. Rain began to softly fall, and a bolt of lightning streaked through the sky, which was shortly followed by a low rumble of thunder.

Jackson coughed out a bunch of blood, "Sorry I wasn't better, Dad." He choked. He tensed up for a brief moment, and then all of his muscles relaxed. He was gone.

~0~0~0~

(Meanwhile in a small Café in Boston)

Mackenzie and Alicia sat in the crowded café, idly chatting about stuff waiting for another couple of friends to arrive before ordering.

"When will they be here…" Alicia looked towards the door.

"I don't mind staying longer, I'm just glad to get away from the kid for a while." Mackenzie took a sip of water, "Yesterday Erika cried nonstop for three hours straight."

"Why?" Alicia spun the straw in her glass around.

"Our neighbor's car alarm went off." Mackenzie rubbed her temple, "So, how're things going between you and Jackson?"

"Oh, um-" Alicia's cheeks grew red and she looked at her lap, "Can I ask you something?"

"Fire away."

"Well, about a month ago we- got together- and…"

"Oh boy…" Mackenzie leaned back in her chair, "Is this going where I think it's going?"

"Probably…"

"Have you told him yet?"

"No, that's what I need your help with."

"Okay, where is he now?"

"Australia visiting his parents. Martin went with him."

"Okay, did either of them give you a phone number?"

"Yeah, I have it right-" as soon as she pulled a small slip of paper out of her pocket, Mackenzie dragged her to a public phone and handed her a fistful of quarters.

Alicia sighed, inserted some quarters, and dialed the number. "Hello? Is this the Mundy residence?"


End file.
